Chandni Chowk to China: A review

Hindi Chini bhai bhai, says Sidhu in Chandni Chowk to China. Indeed, director Nikhil Advani has proved that the good, old tricks of Chinese kung-fu movies – that have so long entertained audiences around the world and enjoy a cult status among its fans – can aptly be fused with the equally old and popular Hindi film masala. Chandni Chowk to China tells a story – shall I say, stories – of mistaken identities, of dreams coming true and finding one’s vocation in an antique land – all in a funny way.

Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) is an innocent foundling chopping vegetables at his Dada’s (Mithun Chakraborty) restaurant in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. He’s blissfully ignorant and stupid, and spends his free time consulting astrologers and tarot card readers. He hopes for an escape from the drudgery of his vegetable-cutting life to one of comfort. But Sidhu has very little faith in the virtue of hard work and longs for a miracle to change his life. This is where Dada disagrees with him and ends up kicking his protégé in all the wrong places. But a miracle does happen, and our bhola bhala Sidhu finds a way to get away from the paratha-smelling alleys of Chandni Chowk. He’s to go to China and live the life of a king flanked by pretty Chinese girls. Well, that, at least, is what Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), the local half-Chinese feng shastra expert, makes him believe. In actuality, however, Sidhu’s life in China is going to be fraught with danger because he’s mistaken for a reincarnation of Liu Sheng, an ancient Chinese hero, and as Liu Sheng reincarnate, his job will be to protect a tiny Chinese village from a big, modern thug called Hojo (Gordon Liu). So, the journey from Chandni Chowk to China begins and also begins a marathon of comic situations, in which Sidhu is both worshipped and laughed at, finds love in Ms. TSM (Deepika Padukone) and accidentally saves himself from getting killed by Suzy’s (Ms. TSM’s long-lost twin sister) lethal darts.

The plot of Chandni Chowk to China has ostensible similarities with that of Kung Fu Panda (2008). Like Po in Kung Fu Panda, Sidhu, too, is a clumsy fool toiling at a roadside food stall and dreaming of a life of adventure. Again, like the big, fat panda who’s mistaken for a reincarnation of the Dragon Warrior, our Sidhu is cajoled away to China to fight evil as a reincarnation of Liu Sheng. And in both movies, the father figures – Mr. Ping, Po’s goose father in Kung Fu Panda and Dada, Sidhu’s big brother and guardian in Chandni Chowk to China – try to persuade the heroes to be rational and step into the elders’ shoes. Another interesting parallel between the two movies lies in the heroes’ realisation of their own abilities: in Kung Fu Panda, Po ceases to believe in the supernatural power of the Dragon Scroll and comes to have faith in himself; in Chandni Chowk to China, Sidhu’s transformation starts only when he’s disillusioned with the divinity of a potato.

But this is not to say that Chandni Chowk to China is a copy of the Hollywood hit. The parallels between the two movies may well be coincidental. And above all, the movies belong to two different genres: Kung Fu Panda is an animated film, which Chandni Chowk to China is not. The Hindi movie more than duplicates the situations: it humanises the characters with essential variations.

As Sidhu, Akshay Kumar doesn’t disappoint. His comic genius is matched with his reputation as an action hero. His moustacheless avatar as Hojo’s nemesis in the second half is the one most viewers are familiar with. Mithun’s role as Dada is as perfect. He looks really old, though. The director has made a good choice by roping in Chinese action film veteran Gordon Liu for the role of Hojo. But the man who played Pai Mei in Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Vol. 2 could surely have been better used as Sidhu’s antagonist in the film. As charlatan Chopstick, Ranvir Shorey is funny as ever. Deepika Padukone – as the Indian Sakhi, Ms. TSM and wily Chinese Suzy, Hojo’s gang member – is ok, but looks pretty in both roles.

Chandni Chowk to China is what might be called a ‘time-pass’ movie, a type of motion picture you watch just for a few hours of sophomoric fun. It’s not an educative or a serious movie, nor does it make any artistic pretensions. The characters are all comic and belong in a world where a brother’s kick sends his sibling skyrocketing into the air, where the hero and heroine share a few moments of aerodynamic togetherness while diving down a skyscraper and above all where Mandarin is just as intelligible as Hindi, courtesy a TSM multi-language translator.


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