Review of Chandni Chowk to China (2009) by Cody C — 15 Jan 2009

Adding elements more familiar to Jackie Chan than Shah Rukh Khan doesn't seem to have affected the usual Bollywood formula: the result is still exuberantly silly and, at 155 minutes, somewhat overlong, with a marked dip in invention throughout much of the second half.

The leads have such fun in the early, funny musical numbers (which - from the jawdropping Padukone's introduction in "Baby Can't Dance" - show off as many pratfalls as pirouettes) that it's a shame they should have to give way to standard-issue, wirework and CGI-enhanced fight scenes.

Still, it's hard to take too unkindly against any film which envisions Chinese manufacturing plants as Willy Wonka-like funhouses, and where the hero's closest confidant is a potato.