Good Time Pass

36 China Town

Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Paresh Rawal

The king of suspense thrillers Abbas Mustan have earlier given the audiences films like Soldier, Ajnabee, Humraaz, Tarzan and Aitraaz, all of which have been exciting and have done well commercially.

36 China Town which is also on the same lines of a murder mystery, is here to thrill the viewers.

The film is featured in Goa, where 36 China Town is the address of one of the characters.

Sonia Chang (Isha Koppikar), the rich and famous owner of many casinos is distraught with grief, as her only child is missing. Even as her lawyer and the local playboy Rocky (Upen Patel) pay her a gallantry visit, she gets a phone call that her child is well and will be delivered to her soon. The child incidentally has been found in Mumbai by a struggling actor Raj (Shahid) and a runaway girl (Kareena). These two form an alliance of convenience, and set out for Goa, to deliver the child and earn a reward. On the way, they run into a whole lot of crazy characters, including a compulsive gambler (Johnny Lever) and his wife Tanaz Currim, a rich but mentally unstable husband (Paresh Rawal) and his under dressed childish wife Payal Rohtagi. Even as they reach Goa and head to 36 China Town where Sonia stays, they encounter her cadaver in the dead of the night. Dumbfounded and scared out of their skins, they run away and inform the police. Unluckily, Priya's bag is left behind at the murder venue, as when Raj goes to retrieve it, he gets arrested. Soon, four or five others who could possibly have a motive are traced by the police inspector (Akshaye Khanna), and rounded up.

As the needle of suspicion shifts from one to the other, plenty of skeletons fall out of the closet. In the end, the inspector uses long standing wile to catch the villain, and the story ends with all's well that ends well.

On technical point of view, the film is flashy, and the story and screenplay are well interwoven with the plot. The film moves at a rapid clip, and there is never a dull moment in the film, excluding a couple of songs, which are bothersome. Paresh and Johnny Lever justified their character by providing plenty of humor. With above average performances, both have lifted the level of the film.

Despite few occasional raunchy references, but overall the film is quite clean. Of the cast, the romantic lead pair of Shahid and Kareena are well compatible, and share the wonderful chemistry. Akshaye Khanna, as the police inspector, is dependable and good. But the astonish element of the film is Upen Patel, who has an amazing screen presence, and acts reasonably well.

Overall, though the film is not highly exceptional, still it is quite good time pass.