36 China Town

Infobox_Film
name = 36 China Town


caption = Poster
imdb_id = 0477252
writer = Shyam Goel
starring = Akshaye Khanna,
Kareena Kapoor,
Shahid Kapoor,
Paresh Rawal,
Johnny Lever,
Upen Patel,
Ishaa Koppikar,
Payal Rohatgi,
Tanaaz Lal
director = Abbas-Mustan
producer = Subhash Ghai
distributor =
released = May 5 2006
runtime = 135 min.
language = Hindi
music = Himesh Reshammiya
awards = |
budget = |

"36 China Town" is a 2006 Bollywood film directed by Abbas-Mustan. A Bollywood adaptation of "Once Upon A Crime" (1992), the film is a murder mystery that follows the investigation of a police officer trying to find the killer of a wealthy casino owner, Sonia Chang.

The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their second film together along with actor, Upen Patel making his debut. Other cast members include Akshaye Khanna, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Payal Rohatgi and Tanaz Lal with a special appearance by Isha Koppikar and guest appearances by Priyanka Chopra and Tanushree Dutta.

Released on May 30, 2006, the film was considered a failure by critics who criticised it for its weak storyline and lack of suspense. However it managed to do moderately well at the box office, becoming an above average hit/cult thriller. [http://www.boxofficeindia.com/2006.htm]

Synopsis

Sonia Chang (Isha Koppikar), a casino owner, lives in her huge mansion "36 China Town". She has one son whom she loves very dearly. When her son goes missing, she becomes distraught and offers 2,500,000 rupees as a reward.

Raj (Shahid Kapoor) and Priya (Kareena Kapoor) stumble upon each other and come across the missing child. They decide to split the reward money. They catch a bus to Goa in order to return the child. Upon reaching 36 China Town near midnight, they call Sonia Madam, but getting no reply they decide to investigate the house and search for Sonia. Inside they find Sonia Chang's dead body. They are shocked and flee from the mansion so that they don't get accused of murder. Suddenly they realize that they have left the child in the mansion and the killer may cause harm to the child too. Raj goes to get the child back, and when he sees two menacing eyes and two legs behind the partition of the sofa set, he flees from the mansion along with the child as fast as he can.

Priya realises that she has left her suitcase in the mansion, and so Raj goes back to the mansion to retrieve the suitcase, but the police have already arrived, and catch him. In fact, it was Raj who had called the police, putting on a different voice. Soon Priya also becomes a suspect, and the child is given over to the servants of the mansion.

The killer is then shown covering Sonia Chang's corpse with plastic and then using Priya's suitcase as container to put the dead body in. Priya's suitcase is left on the street and K.K. (Johnny Lever), a gambler, takes the suitcase home thinking that there is money in it. But it has Sonia Chang's body in it. He and his wife get scared, and try to dispose of the suitcase, but instead get caught and become murder suspects as well.

When police inspector Karan (Akshaye Khanna) comes to investigate the murder, he has evidence against all the different suspects, but doesn't know who really committed the murder. Rocky (Upen Patel,who says first that he spent the night with Natwar's wife Gracy, during the night of the murder,also becomes a suspect when Raj realizes that Rocky was the person hiding behind the partition when he went to get the child back (he noticed the same two eyes and same two legs). Gracy (Payal Rohatgi) and her husband Natwar (Paresh Rawal) also become suspects as they both had gone to the mansion because of some reason on the night of murder. In the end the identity of the real killers is revealed, and that when Sonia found out about their evil intention of taking her inheritance and the child once she passed away, and using the money as they wanted, she decided to change her will. Thus, out of anger, the killers murdered Sonia Chang. Raj (Shahid Kapoor)is actually in love with Priya (Kareena Kapoor) and they later get together and adopt Vicky.

Cast

* Akshaye Khanna as Karan
* Kareena Kapoor as Priya
* Shahid Kapoor as Raj Malhotra
* Johnny Lever as KK
* Paresh Rawal as Natwar
* Tanaz Lal as Ruby
* Payal Rohatgi as Gracy
* Upen Patel as Rocky
* Isha Koppikar as Sonia Chang (Special appearance)
* Tanushree Dutta -Guest appearance in song "Jab Kabhi"
* Priyanka Chopra - Guest appearance

Crew

* Director: Abbas-Mustan
* Producer: Subhash Ghai
* Music Director: Himesh Reshammiya
* Screenplay: Shyam Goel
* Story: Shyam Goel
* Art Direction: R. Verman Shetty
* Cinematography: Ravi Yadav
* Editing: Hussain A. Burmawala
* Choreography: Ganesh Acharya
* Lyrics: Sameer

External links

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