36 China Town (2006)

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Even though Abbas Mastan claim that the inspiration for this movie came to them while watching Chinatown (1974), the movie is actually a scene-by-scene lift of the 1992 Hollywood comedy Once Upon a Crime, starring John Candy and Cybill Shepherd. Interestingly, that movie was also billed as a comedy-mystery, but was also much more comedy than mystery, like this one.The roles played by Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor were played by Richard Lewis and Sean Young in the original. The plot has been Indianized: the main events in the original happen in Monte Carlo, and here, they happen in Goa, which is kind of the Monte Carlo of India. Several other aspects of the plot have been Indianized: for example, the two protagonists in the original are returning a lost dog (in this, they are returning a lost child). But several things are not changed at all, including the character of the married-for-money Paresh Rawal (played by John Candy in the original), the suave Casanova Upen Patel (played by George Hamilton in the original), and the inspector Akshaye Khanna (played by Giancarlo Giannini).Despite having seen the original, I found this version to be highly entertaining. Especially impressive was Shahid Kapoor, who has excellent chemistry with Kareena. Akshaye Khanna does not have a very strong part, but still tries very hard. Overall, the movie does not disappoint.

36 China Town is promoted as a 'Whodunnit' kinda thriller film with suspects lined up and the stage set for a master detective to enter and unravel a suspense mystery..........my advice to the promoters is : GO TO HELL.The film passes off as acceptable merely on the basis of some good acting and Reshammiya's Midas Touch over Hindi music. The film hardly thrills and is more of a brainless comedy than a potboiler. The climax sucks to the core and there is no intelligent unraveling of mysteries. Bollywood is still in the infant stage in the arena of suspense-thrillers and a few good ones that have been made so far , like Samay (Sushmita Sen,2003) never got an encouraging response.ACTING: The only good thing that can be said about 36,China Town is the above average acting. Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, though still young in Hindi cinema, act with maturity and share impressive on-screen chemistry (the couple are known love-birds off-screen too!). Debutant Upen Patel is pure eye-candy but still needs to brush up his acting. Yet another down-point of the film is that Upen's voice has been dubbed and the lip-sync is imperfect. Paresh Rawal and Johny Lever do gross injustice to their comic talent; though as an afterthought, there are certain hilarious scenes in the film. Akshaye Khanna once again delivers a great performance. Its sad that after some damn good performances like Dil Chahta Hai, Border, Humraaz and this one, the actor is still not sure of his place in Hindi cinema. Payal Rohatgi and Tanaaz Lal complete the acting cast. Payal would be better off displaying her wares at some cheap dance bar because the absence of ANY acting talent in her is conspicuous in the film. Tanaaz Lal looks refreshing and looks a part of the film.MUSIC: Himesh Reshammiya comes out on top again with the track- Aashiqui mein teri.....

Not being one to carry my analytical part to a movie theater, especially for a bollywood movie, i pretty much enjoyed this movie.The songs, apart from the first and last one, are stuffed in the movie for no reason at all.Akhshay Khanna is wonderful and so are Paresh Rawal and Johny Lever. Upen Patel is OK.Direction pretty crisp.The suspense is built up nicely and the end is shocking.. some said, disappointing, but OK for me as i like the movie overall except for a brief 30 minute period of the start which made me squirm and desire to go home. Glad that i stayed on.

36 China Town is Shahid's first movie with Abbas-Mustan.Expectations from Shahid's fans are high: -How is Shahid's performance?After all this is his first movie since December. -How is Shahid and Kareena's chemistry?They both have stated it's better than FidaWell let's answer those questions:Performance is great while the chemistry is getting better.Story: Shahid wants to become an actor.He tells his parents,they get mad,he runs away,meets Kareena and they fall in love.They find a child and they take the child back to their house, 36 China Town.When they get there the head of the house is dead.They weren't the only ones in the house.Johnny Lever and his wife were there.Paresh Rawal was there.Shahid and Kareena were there.and Upen Patel was there.Akshaye Khanna is the detective trying to figure everything out.Positives: -Shahid's performance -Akshaye's performance -Music -Story and screenplay -Direction -Shahid's Dancing -Shahid and Kareena's chemistry is much better than Fida -The scenes with Paresh and JohnnyNegatives: -Upen PatelPerformances: Upen is OK.Nothing to boast about. Paresh was as usual. Johnny and his wife were loud but funny. Tanushree looked nice. Priyanka Chopra did OK. Kareena was great in her part Akshaye did very well which surprised me.Much better than his last release Shaadi Se Pehle Shahid did his role with such ease.This is easily one of his best performances.Direction: This is one of Abbas-Mustan's finest work to date.They handled every frame beautifully.Music: Himesh's music fit with the narrative.All in all a wonderful film.The movie starts like a normal Bollywood flick then you're at the edge of your seat at intermission,and you're shocked at the climax.But i won't give the ending away.9.5/10