36 China Town - Movie Review
Published: October 1, 2009
By JENNIFER HOPFINGER
Starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel, Isha Koppikar, Johnny Lever
The setting—a palatial mansion in the Chinatown of a coastal Indian city—conjures up the old-time Hollywood glamour of 1930s private-detective films. And the murder mystery that unfolds there is as campy as a game of Clue. You won’t find Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with a candlestick, but almost. The cast of characters includes a rich casino owner, a slimy gigolo, a degenerate gambler, a bumbling tourist, an aspiring actor, a runaway, and of course, a hard-nosed detective.
Sonia Chang (played by Isha Koppikar) is a wealthy woman who lives in her big house at 36 China Town with no one but her toddler-age son and her servants. When her beloved little boy goes missing, she offers an enormous reward for his return, and she can afford it—she owns the Hollywood Casino in the popular resort city of Goa. Hundreds of miles away in Mumbai, a wannabe Bollywood actor, Raj (Shahid Kapoor), and a runaway, Priya (Kareena Kapoor), stumble upon the lost child and realize he’s the famous boy. They bring him to Goa to collect the reward and arrive at Sonia’s mansion in the middle of the night, and they find Sonia murdered and her home apparently looted. Because of their bad timing, the two become suspects in the crime, along with casino hotel guest K.K. (Johnny Lever), rival casino owner and gambling addict Natwar (Paresh Rawal), and hustler Rocky (Upen Patel). It’s up to Goa’s tough police investigator (Akshaye Khanna) to solve the high-profile murder. In the meantime, Sonia’s body gets dragged all over Goa in a suitcase, Raj and Priya fall in love, and Rocky has to keep changing his story to protect his female customers.
While some of the suspects have strong motives, the actual culprits aren’t suspects at all, even though they have the strongest motive of anyone. The film has a solid ensemble cast and some humorous moments, but right from the beginning, there’s no mystery in this whodunit.
36 China Town is rated Skip.
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