Confirmed – Chandni Chowk a Mega Box Office Disaster
Chandni Chowk Review – Slit Your Wrists, AkshayÂ
A bevy of critics has hammered Akshay Kumar’s new movie Chandni Chowk to China, which released in theatres around the world today.
Here’s a look at excerpts from some of the reviews:
Hollywood Reporter:
“Chandni Chowk to China’s” 2 1/2 hours of shouting, gesticulating, pratfalls and groin kicks will leave viewers with an MSG headache.
Warners’ first foray into releasing a Bollywood film in the U.S. — on a record 125 screens — is likely to disappoint connoisseurs of both Indian and Chinese genres and pull in modest boxoffice results.
IndiaFM:
CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is an unbearable masala fare that insults the intelligence of the moviegoer.
The problem with CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is that it lacks a watertight screenplay to keep you glued for those 2.45 hours. Agreed, you don’t look for logic and reason in hardcore potboilers, but the least the director and his team of writers could do is provide loads of entertainment. Sadly, writers Shridhar Raghavan and Rajat Aroraa make mincemeat of a plot that had the potential to woo viewers from Chandni Chowk to China to Chicago to Cape Town.
So, what’s the verdict then? Enjoy Chinese food instead. This one’s a big, big, big letdown!
….On the whole, CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is a brilliant opportunity gone appallingly wrong. The film falls way below expectations and is a major disappointment in all respects. At the box-office, the hype might translate into a bountiful weekend, that’s it. Thumbs down!
NDTV:
Advani and his writer Shridhar Raghavan in an attempt to give us a full-on entertainer sacrificed logic, plausibility, characterisation and even coherence.
Chandni Chowk to China is so slapdash that it feels like the script was written on the set….
Without verve and imagination, any lightweight story cannot soar. It becomes impossibly tedious.
……The actors try hard to infuse energy into the enterprise but Advani and Raghavan don’t give them much to work with. Even Akshay Kumar’s high beam charm, slick kung fu moves and superb comic timing could not rescue Chandni Chowk to China. This one is for die-hard fans only.
Rediff:
A film that makes Singh Is Kinng seem like a highly textured work of complex characterisation and nuanced writing, Chandni Chowk To China is a disastrous overbudget mess — and it may even turn out to be the one film so weak that even current box-office almighty Akshay Kumar can’t save it.
Philadelphia Inquirer:
A sprawling slapstick martial-arts spoof and romantic melodrama laced with song and dance numbers – a typical Bollywood throw-in-the-kitchen-sink spectacle – Chandni Chowk is entertainingly goofy for about 30 minutes. And then, for the next two hours-plus, it’s agony.
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Chandni Chowk to China is Garbage, Say Critics added by SearchIndia.com on
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American critics seems to be more forgiving.. actually many of tem have given good reviews.
http://metacritics.com/film/titles/chandnichowktochina
Are you planning to skip it?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: American critics seems to be more forgiving.. actually many of them have given good reviews.
Most American critics don’t know diddly about Bollywood movies.
Not all are enamored though. Some of the American critics (Philadelphia Inquirer, Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle et al) have been very harsh.
I might be deviating from the topic but I have funny statements from Thirutti nai (thieving swine) Venkat prabhu as told to ‘The Hindu’ newspaper..
http://www.hindu.com/cp/2009/01/16/stories/2009011650060300.htm
I thought you would ROFL after reading this…
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Thanks for the link.
In a million years, this Thirutu Nai (thieving swine) will not be able to make a movie like Slumdog Millionaire.
And this dodo wants to make a film on the slums abroad and the racism there. As far as we know, racism is outside the slums not in the slums.
2. Thirutu Nai says in your above Hindu link: And, as a director, I know the difficulties involved in shooting in crowded locales such as rai lways stations.
Thirutu Nai should have actually said:
And, as a Tamil film director, I know the ease in stealing a Hollywood story and fobbing it off as my own.
Are you not going to do an in-house review of the movie. I remember you saying you would.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We will be the sacrificial lamb yet again.
This movie… sucked! Ass! Bigtime! Should have waited for the inevitable review from SI lambasting the b*****d known as Nikhil Advani.
I actually thought Deepika was not bad, better than she was in Om Shanti Om anyway, but that doesn’t take much.
“Chandni Chowk to China is so slapdash that it feels like the script was written on the set….” That’s being generous. It didn’t look like there was a script written at all, just a sick two and a half hour game of charades between Indians and Chinese caught on camera and passed off as a movie.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Who knows…it might turn into one of the biggest hits.
After all there’s a precedent in Singh is Kinng.
Was there a big crowd (say compared to other Bollywood films)?
Not a crowd, 12 people and 4 of them (33%!) walked out in the first hour. But it was an afternoon screening and usually I go at night. I would expect 60-70 people showing up to the evening shows this weekend, which are generally well attended for a bona fide star’s movie. But I wouldn’t be surprised if 20 people walk out.
Big hit? What happened to all that stuff about dodos going to see SRK in Rab Ne Bana de Jodi and that the opening weekend figures don’t actually mean the movie is any good?
SearchIndia.com Responds (via iPhone):
Waiting in line for Chandni Chowk. (Freezing cold today). 22:19 EST
Since reviews are mostly bad, there might not be any pirated DVDs…should make Warner Bros happy.
can’t say much about cc2. i haven’t watched it till now. but i have watched CHANGELING.its a clint eastwood film with angelina jolie in the lead.its a very good movie.angelina jolie has given a award winning performance. its a period thriller and jolie’s performance in this movie is better than her performance in a mighty heart. watch this movie.by the way i have heard from some friends that cc2 is garbage as critics say
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We are planning on watching a whole bunch of Clint Eastwood films soon.
Chandni Chowk to China is absolute nonsense.