36 China Town
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Multimillionaire Sonia Chang (Isha Koppikar) finds out her only 2 year son is kidnapped. She lives in her huge mansion named "36 China Town" with a servant couple Mr.Lobo (Dinyar Contractor) and Mrs.Lobo (Roshan Tirandas) in Goa. Sonia is consoled by Rocky (Upen Patel), a local flirt. Sonia declares 25 lakh reward if anyone returns the child to her.
The story then focusses upon Raj (Shahid Kapoor), a struggling actor & Priya (Kareena Kapoor), a runaway jilted girl. They both meet each other after both of their dreams have been shattered. They find a child who is dumped in Mumbai. They take pity on him, but after seeing a missing persons ad, they realise that the child is the only son of Sonia Chang. The ad says that they will get a lot of money if they return the son back. They both need the money so they decide to return the baby to her. Before leaving for Goa, they call Sonia Chang and tell that they have her child. She was discussing the change in her will with her lawyer Mr Dixit (Vivek Vaswani), when the duo inform her about her baby. Meanwhile, Raj falls in love with Priya. But she is irritated by his presence.
Sonia is overjoyed & calls them to Goa. During midnight, her casino is hosting some interesting people. One of them is Mr. Natwar (Paresh Rawal), a notorious gambler who has come along with his wife Gracy (Payal Rohatgi). Natwar has pawned his four hotels to Sonia & has only one hotel left in his possession. When he loses money, he is forced to pawn the last hotel too. He keeps this a secret, but Gracy knows the fact. Another person is KK (Johny Lever), who has come along with his wife Ruby (Tanaaz Currim). There is also playboy Rocky among them, who is a big hit with ladies, especially Sonia. Rocky flirts with Ruby. Ruby wins a lot of money in casino. But when she doesn't get the money even after claiming it, she enters 36 China town to meet Sonia in a very angry mood. Even Natwar goes inside the mansion to meet Sonia and pawn the last hotel. Upset by this, Gracy goes to 36 China Town in an angry mood. Then, she goes her bedroom with Rocky. Meanwhile, KK and Natwar decide to play together and they lose all of their money. They fight and get out of the casino by the bouncers.
Meanwhile, Raj & Priya come to Goa, where they run into a drunkard (Raj Zutshi) loitering near the mansion. The drunkard runs away on seeing them. The duo are surprised to see the mansion to be in dark, since they expected Sonia to be waiting for them. They enter the mansion & call for Sonia. When she doesn't answer, they realise that something is wrong. On seeing the state of the house, they realise that Sonia has been robbed, but are later horrified to see Sonia dead. The duo run, but find that the child is left inside the mansion. Raj enters the mansion again to take him. He witnesses two eyes and legs of the killer behind a cupboard. Terrified, he gets out of the mansion with the child. Raj and priya then inform Goa police about the murder. They keep the child inside a police van and run away. But Priya finds that she has left her suitcase inside the mansion inside which her passport is kept. Meanwhile, audience watch that Sonia's body is kept inside Priya's suitcase by somebody and kept outside the mansion. KK reaches the mansion and finds the suitcase. Thinking that it is containing lot of money, he takes it and reaches his room in hotel where Ruby is waiting for him. Meanwhile, Raj and Priya go back to the mansion to take her suitcase. Raj enters the mansion but is arrested by Inspector Karan (Akshaye Khanna), the investigating officer and Ravi (Vivek Shauq). Meanwhile, KK and Ruby find out that the suitcase contains dead body, not money. They decide to dispose the suitcase. Meanwhile, Priya, who wants to help Raj, gets arrested. Priya and Raj become the prime suspects of the murder. Inside the cell both fall for each other. Meanwhile, KK and Ruby unable to dispose the suitcase, are arrested by police. KK tells the truth to Karan about Natwar. Karan goes to meet Natwar. Natwar lies to him that he was in his room with his wife, Gracy. Karan goes away. Natwar then finds out that Gracy was with Rocky in the room. Next day, Karan comes to meet Natwar and Gracy. Natwar tells him that it was he who was in the room and he got out from pipe directly to the neighbouring house's bedroom (Which actually Rocky did). But to his shock, the room turns to be Sonia Chang's mansion's bedroom where she was murdered. Natwar is arrested.
Natwar then tells the truth to Karan about Rocky. Karan calls Rocky to police station. But seeing Rocky's eyes, Raj recollects that it was rocky's eyes and shoes which he had seen behind the cupboard. Rocky then tells that he was in Gracy's room that night. He had got out from the pipe to sonia's bedroom only to find her already murdered. When he was about to get out from the house, Raj and Priya had entered with the child and started searching for Sonia. Then, when Raj had entered the mansion again to take the child, he had seen his (Rocky's) eyes and legs. Karan is able to reconstruct what actually happened that night. Based on Mr. Dixit's statement about the will & everybody's statement, Karan is able to find the truth. First, he procures the drunkard, whom Raj & Priya believe to be the murderer. But, Karan goes on to explain that he is in fact, the kidnapper.
Karan goes on to explain that the kidnapper was hired by the killer but the kidnapper lost the baby's possession, who was then found by Raj and Priya in Mumbai. After Sonia is informed by Raj & Priya about the baby's discovery, the mastermind found that his/her plan was failing. Hence, he/she murdered Sonia, while other people incriminated themselves by fooling others to believe that it was robbery gone wrong. The actual killer was Mr. and Mrs. Lobo, Sonia's servants. According to Sonia Chang's initial will, after her death, the person who was most close to her son (which were her servants) would inherit everything but then one day she found out about their evil intentions and decided to change her will, which led to them murdering her.

Review: The movie was quite good with many twists and turns although it's a comedy thriller and they both don't match.
I thought it was going to be rubbish but as usual Abbas-Mustan's films are always good.
Their films are always copies but they turn out to be better than the original especially Disclosure which was so rubbish that I only seen the first 20 minutes but Aitraaz was brilliant.
The best thing is that they're not a complete copy only the basic plot e.g.: 36 China Town- Chinatown (1974) Aitraaz- Disclosure (1994)Humraaz- A Perfect Murder (1998) Ajnabee- Consenting Adults (1992)Daraar- Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)Baazigar- A Kiss Before Dying (1991).
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.
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.
Of course this starts with the usual Bollywood movies..with a lot of songs...But the story starts taking its grip gradually.
Great chemistry between Shahid and Kareena, real good comedy by Paresh, Johhny...Upen Sucks!!!
but this guy has potential to do something gr888...Upen needs to be selective in his role....All in all a great entertainer and would be really more entertaining for you too, if you just go ahead and watch the movie without knowing the ending.
But the ample comedy, good songs and Upen Patel makes up for all this.
I went into this movie expecting a stylised(somewhat overly) thriller from Abbas-Mastan duo and boy was I surprised.The movie started off like expected with a stylised flashback and a decent attempt to merge to the stories of a few individuals but it was all different and confusing since then.In fact everything about this movie and the motives behind it such as packaging it as a thriller and the dozen ploy holes (maybe more i lost count after a while) are confusing.I've reviewed this movie like a comedy with a murder involved maybe even like a spoof as THIS MOVIE CANNOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE CALLED A THRILLER AND ANYONE GOING INTO THIS MOVIE EXPECTING ONE WILL BE SEVERELY Disappointed also if i did review this movie as a thriller than even one star would be to much.The story of this movie is promising enough with a few bumbling people all landing up at the same time at China Town(sic) in Goa at the same time a murder happens.The characters are all caricatures with the henpecked husband, the suave playboy, the tough cop, the bumbling sidekicks etc.
Even so they are all tolerable and the performances by everyone is good given the limited premise of the movie.Special mention to Upen Patel (who I'm sure is dubbed) who has had a decent debut and Johny Lever who thanks to his short hiatus from films (and the fact that his Numero Uno status as the most annoying guy in Bollywood being taken over by Rajpal Yadav) is actually quite tolerable in this film.
In fact Item Girl Payal Rohtagi also gave a decent performance.The songs in this film save for the first one are probably the worst part of this film as they completely destroyed the flow of the film and were played when you least wanted it.
It wasn't exactly a thriller but still a great film to watch as it contains good songs, good characters, a lot of comedy for entertainment etc.
Decent thriller--good songs and performances.
Abbas-Mastan don't live up to their name after delivering suspense-packed films like Aitraaz, Humraaz, and Ajnabee.
36 China Town is not an edge-of-the-seat thriller, which is a characteristic that has by now become expected from the director duo.
This movie still proves to be entertaining thanks to great songs, great performances, and a decent story.
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.
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.
Great movie - i never thought a comedy and a murder mystery could mix in so well with 36 China Town!
Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever are great and give the movie an x factor.
Kareena and the rest of the female cast do well too, and Upen fits the character well - not a bad attempt for a debut.the best part was the audience were intact within the movie as there were only 3 main sets - the casino, 36 china town, and the police station!
outline story - shahid and kareena find a missing child and as they go to the house to deliver him, the mother is murdered!
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.
Best comedy and thriller film of 2006.
This is way too entertaining for me and the whole audience that watched it in the theater I enjoyed this movie allot it was cool and funny there is a very outstanding story-line in this movie great acting performances by akshaye and shah-id and Kareena and up-en Jonny is funny all the time I liked his comedy scenes with Mr pare-sh rawal there were too witty and hilarious my rating is 10 out of 10.
36 china town is not only a thrilling film, but also a comedy film which has been mixed with other stunning elements as well.
I have seen many thrilling films (mystery thrillers, but i have never seen a film like this before which satisfied me with thrilling segments and comedy as well.
The director of this film is known for his work in many suspense thriller films such like Baazigar, Ajnabee, Humraaz and etc.
As i described before, 36 china town is indeed a suspense thriller film but has mixed up with sublime comedies here and there.
Shahid makes a small role in this film so do kareena and other titular character, however, Paresh and Akshay did a great job in this film.
Plus points of this film - Amazing Screenplay, Performances, Songs, thrilling segments.Minus Points - Some scenes are quite subtle which could have been little more obvious to the audience.Please go for it.
Gone are the days of yore when edge on the seat thrillers used to mesmerize you and engulf you in their hunt for the unraveling of true suspense; but encountering a film like '36 China Town' it seems that thrillers have now been reduced to a vestige of RECLINING ON THE SEAT DROOLERS, which have nothing new to roll on the screen .It would be a hyperbole to categorize films like these as thrillers and an insult to the genre, because they stand nowhere near it and every moment they either lull you to sleep or tempt you to make your way to the sign flashing in red above the cinema hall door.The whole movie stands on a wafer thin plot and is full of frippery.
The movie stands in complete shambles due to the fact of this duo not adding the right ingredients to the cauldron of film making.
So a feeling of great felicity empowers you when this ordeal comes to an end.Considering the star cast Shahid and Kareena seem to be too much engrossed in themselves to act well.
The only saving grace of the film is the performance by Akshaye Khanna enacting the role of a detective with élan.
Then we have Priyanka Chopra at the moribund end of the movie just to encourage some whistles form the front rows.The whole story drags along failing to arouse your alacrity at any instance and the scene where the dead body is found by Shahid and Kareena is total balderdash and the internecine quarrels of putting the blame on each other are totally childish.All and all the film is a tawdry show and is insipid in nature.
This one certainly serves as a punitive for people who have watched this movie and wont draw rewards form the film cognoscenti and certainly wont add good words to the directors repertoire..
The only respite is comedy by Johny lever which acts as the highlight of the film.
Akshay khanna is good and natural as the investigating officer but poor script makes the suspense looks so ordinary .
upen patel is decent in his movie but he needs to really prove himself which he is unable to do in this movie.He is no doubt good looking but needs to hone his acting skills.
I started watching Indian movies since I saw the "chance pe dance" in a movie theater, because I thought that shahid kapoor looks cute.
Hollywood hardly ever makes movies like that.
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.
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.
Paresh Rawal and Johny Lever do gross injustice to their comic talent; though as an afterthought, there are certain hilarious scenes in the film.
36 China Town (U/A)---------RATING:3/5A good thriller with more complexions ....The songs in this film save for the first one are probably the worst part of this film as they completely destroyed the flow of the film and were played when you least wanted it.
In fact one could easily hear the collective sigh of the audience when yet another HIMMESBHAI song was played.The comedy is nothing special though a few scenes especially those involving the interrogation of the Suspects was hilarious.
In fact one could easily hear the collective sigh of the audience when yet another HIMMESBHAI song was played.The comedy is nothing special though a few scenes especially those involving the interrogation of the Suspects was hilarious.
Some of the scenes even though they were predictable had me falling out my seat laughing.Also a really funny person throughout the movie was the Stupid Junior Cop who was Akshaye Khannas sidekick all his one liners were absolutely hilarious.The sets of this film were actually quite good although the crude labeling of the Casino was very annoying (come one people are gambling inside we all know its a casino).Which brings us to Murder Mystery...the lesser said the better there were a dozen plot holes it was shoddily done and completely unimportant I'm sure almost no one in the audience cared who the killer was....hell it was so bad that the killer actually cracks a joke about the killing after being caught WTF.Save for the first ten minutes when this movie tries to be a thriller this movie is actually funny.A good comedy (maybe even a spoof)but the obtrusive songs and the fact that this movie was not supposed to be comedy and a thriller affect its ratings.Watch this movie if you want to see a good comedy with the background of a murder mystery.PS maybe subhash ghai saw the box office of the recent comedies and repackaged this movie as a thriller to con us whatever be the reason this movie will definitely reflect negatively against him..
Some of the scenes even though they were predictable had me falling out my seat laughing.Also a really funny person throughout the movie was the Stupid Junior Cop who was Akshaye Khannas sidekick all his one liners were absolutely hilarious.The sets of this film were actually quite good although the crude labeling of the Casino was very annoying (come one people are gambling inside we all know its a casino).Which brings us to Murder Mystery...the lesser said the better there were a dozen plot holes it was shoddily done and completely unimportant I'm sure almost no one in the audience cared who the killer was....hell it was so bad that the killer actually cracks a joke about the killing after being caught WTF.Save for the first ten minutes when this movie tries to be a thriller this movie is actually funny.A good comedy (maybe even a spoof)but the obtrusive songs and the fact that this movie was not supposed to be comedy and a thriller affect its ratings.Watch this movie if you want to see a good comedy with the background of a murder mystery.PS maybe subhash ghai saw the box office of the recent comedies and repackaged this movie as a thriller to con us whatever be the reason this movie will definitely reflect negatively against him..
This Movie is not a Movie its CrapAs for Shahid Kareena Chemistry It Sucks Abbas-Mustan Have made Great Movies but This One hmmmmWhat happened to Them i really Loved there Baazigar, Khiladi and all they were really good Im Really Disappointed After Seeing this CrapThis movie Is not Worth Watching A Total Ripoff, This Movie Really one of the Most Worst movies of 2006.]I wasted my money on the DVD but i made a mistake.The Acting is very Bad The Direction is Passable Due to Modern Day Technology The Cinematography, i would say the same but the Storyline is CrapDon't Bother to watch it ull waste ur time.
He seems to enjoy staying with Sonia Chang at 36 China Town, the address/name of her mansion.Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Raj made a music video which a director likes.
Sounds like possible homicide motives.Priya and Raj find 36 China Town.
The single biggest reason I watch Bollywood films is the presence of good musical numbers.
Talking about success of 36 China Town is also talking about repeated success of its directors duo Abbas Mustan who started off as directors in Hindi films more than 15 years ago with a flop Agneekaal (1990).
In this flick for example, they crafted a thriller that is the core but as usual is not great and neither is their suspense but surely this is not a genre film and therefore they bring the elements of comedy (the highlight of the film), Romance, Foot-tapping Music as well as sufficient skin show make all the difference.
If you like a thriller/comedy this is the movie 4 u.
They left no loose ends or wandering questions although some pointless songs which turned out 2 b a figment of some very powerful imagination from shahid and kareena and upen patel in this film was SOOOO HOT!!
Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever guarantee this a good comedy and work together comically to settle their debts.
Abbas-Mustan who otherwise make decent thrillers this time made a hotchpotch The film ranks amongst their not too great filmsThe film is supposed to be a comic thriller but ends up being over the top and filled with some of the stupid scenes ever like a candle light dinner in jail.etc The first half slowly establishes the plot but the focus is on comedy,romance too which gets boring There are some good scenes involving Akshaye Khanna but the identity killer is really nonsenseDirection by AM is not great Music by HR was good, the songs were stylish but most come at inept momentsAkshaye Khanna reminds of Vinod Khanna here, but plays his part well, for once being subtle,The others don't impress Shahid Kapur overacts and makes faces, Kareena hardly gets scope, Upen Patel with a dubbed voice is okay for his debut, Tanaaz Currim is loud, Johny Lever too is loud but has some funny moments, Paresh Rawal is decent, payal Rohatgi is not impressive, ISha Koppikar hardly gets to act, Dinyar Contractor, Vivek Vaswani and others are okay.
Not to mention supported by the very hilarious Johnny Lever & Paresh Rawal who turn in decent performances.
Upen Patel makes his Bollywood debut as the heart breaker Rocky.