Broken chinaware. Review on 36 China Town

The guy who wrote the screenplay of 36 China Town in all probability must be the one who recently flew over the cuckoo’s nest and spared no effort in spreading his white drops over the mind of the hapless audience. I am still trying to wash it away and feeling increasingly like Lady Macbeth.

The story revolves around the murder of a rich lady who incidently owns a casino in Goa and lives in a mansion called 36 China Town. Geography be dammed. We are soon introduced to various characters who visited this mansion in the night of the murder. Most of them are given some absurd motives for killing the lady and we, the audience are expected to sit glued to our seats wondering who the real murderer is. High hopes Mr Abbas and Mr Mustan. Never underestimate the intelligence of the junta. We can sniff out a flop movie within fifteen minutes from the start.

The movie boasts of a lengthy and glittering. star cast. The lead pair Shahid and Karrena tried their best to stay afloat but cannot remove that sinking feeling. Upen Patel thinks he had become the next big thing after this movie. As they say ignorance is bliss. Johhny Lever and Paresh Rawal were recruited to act funny and raise some laughs. They did that effortlessly but the staleness of the dialogues and situations refuse to disappear. Akshay Khanna must be still scratching his wig to solve the mystery of his presence in this movie. Payal Rohtagi justified her presence by showing ample cleavage and skin. In fact she was the only bright spot in the movie. Her dialogues proved very distracting to the audience as the focus was elsewhere.

Most of the scenes remain set pieces giving the stars equal opportunities to showcase their talents and body parts. However the whole spirit of an ensemble venture was missing. Kareena if you notice carefully, appear absolutely bored in some scenes standing somewhere behind the crowd. The story supposedly a murder mystery keeps on strolling in different directions. By the time we reach the climax, the audience just wants to go home and treat the movie as a bad dream.

Music of the movie is given by Himesh Reshammiya. The songs are fine if heard in isolation. In the movie however they are just imposed as time fillers and only elicits a few yawns. The climax song in fact is picturised so horribly that you feel terribly let down by Mr Ghai and company.

End of the day 36 China Town is a bad movie. Abbas Mustan should realize that and ensure they never ever take the audience for granted. Mr Ghai on the other hand should be more careful in choosing his scripts if he wants to convert the illusion of his showmanship into reality. Payal Rohtagi on the other hand should thank her lucky stars for this break and make hay while the sun shines on her skin.