East meets East in 'Chandni Chowk to China'
Jeff Yang
Thursday, January 15, 2009
"Chandni Chowk to China" is a weird, wildly entertaining blend of Bollywood musical and martial arts epic and, just maybe, the future of global pop cinema.
It's almost impossible to describe the effervescent madness that unspools onscreen in "Chandni Chowk to China," which Warner Bros. has dubbed the first "Bollywood kung fu action comedy" and opens Friday in the Bay Area. Like Chandni Chowk itself, a teeming market at the center of densely packed Delhi, this movie strains at the seams with sensation, making its running time of two hours and 20 minutes somewhat exhausting but never boring.
And though its ingredients seem random - a lowly Indian food vendor revealed as the reincarnation of an ancient Chinese warrior! separated-at-birth twins, one a dance queen, the other a kung fu femme fatale! Bolly-style dance routines in the Forbidden City! the god Ganesha embodied in the form of a potato! - like the tastiest culinary creations of both cultures, the oddly juxtaposed textures and flavors come together in surprisingly harmonious union. In fact, Asian pop enthusiasts will be excused if they wonder why no one else had thought of the combination before.
That includes its director, Nikhil Advani, who points out that there are strong structural similarities between the Bollywood and kung fu cinematic genres, both of which originated in times of economic and social strife and are rooted in the desire of working-class audiences for escape and catharsis.
"Bollywood became what it is because people in India have so much trouble in their lives," Advani says. "When the common man in India goes to the theater, he doesn't want to be reminded of his problems; he wants to fly away, to be taken into an exotic, fantastical place. He wants to feel, hey, this guy is a normal guy, but he can do something to go beyond that. And that's what is at the center of most martial arts films as well."
So in Bollywood musicals, you'll see performers whirl away their troubles in elaborately choreographed routines that defy plausibility, logic and even the laws of physics; in kung fu movies, you'll see more or less the same thing, only without a lilting rhythmic soundtrack. But while martial arts cinema has successfully transcended its Chinese roots to become a truly pancultural phenomenon, Bollywood's popularity is still largely limited to Indian (and Indian diasporic) audiences, something that Advani blames on the lack of "global ambassadors" for the genre.
Bollywood ambassadors
"Whether you're talking about Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Yuen Woo Ping or Gordon Liu" - the classic kung fu superstar who plays the main villain in "Chandni Chowk" - "martial arts cinema has had many great ambassadors, icons who have reached out to and appealed to a global audience, so it was able to move out of its cult status and gain mass appeal," he says. "Bollywood is still struggling to find its ambassadors, guys and girls who people will recognize in the streets of Manhattan as well as Mumbai."
As far as global representatives go, Bollywood could hardly make a better choice than the two stars of "Chandni Chowk": breathtaking ingenue Deepika Padukone, whose looks and screen appeal are already receiving comparisons to those of renowned icon Aishwarya Rai, and veteran action king Akshay Kumar, often called the most bankable actor in India. And the bet Warner Bros. is making on the pair is, indeed, a global one: As a sign of the studio's confidence in the border-breaking potential of "Chandni Chowk," its first-ever Indian production, it is releasing the film in 50 global markets while getting the biggest U.S. opening in history for a Bollywood film (not to mention a staggering 1,400-screen premiere in its native India).
"The pressure on us is immense," says Kumar, himself a black belt in Goji Ryu karate and a lifelong kung fu movie fan, "but I think we are making this film at the right time. This movie brings a very fresh turn to an age-old story - it's a Bollywood stir-fry, a kung fu curry! People these days are looking for something different, and this is something totally unique, yet still familiar."
Bandwagon jump
Unique for now, perhaps. But if it succeeds, it won't be unique for long. "If this goes well, this is just the beginning," says Kumar. "In India, if one movie works, everyone jumps on board and makes the same kind of movie, so you'll probably see a crowd of Bollywood kung fu films! But someone has to be the first to set the trend."
Still, co-star Padukone thinks increasing convergence between China and India is inevitable. "We have the two oldest and biggest populations in the world," she says. "We have very rich, very similar cultures, and I think that we are destined to come together."
Her thoughts are echoed by no less a cinematic light than director Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth"), who announced last month on his blog that it was time for the "Dragon and the Elephant" to join forces. "We are defined by many common mythologies and philosophies ... It is time for us to finally bury our addiction to the West and to form cultural and creative bonds."
Kapur's thoughts were prompted by a visit to Beijing, and the experience he had there of engagement, respect and mutual fascination with Chinese colleagues. And there's been a growing interest among Chinese consumers in Indian culture, from fashion and design, with Indian jewelry and apparel becoming increasingly chic among stylemakers, to music - a series of Bollywood concerts held in five cities last year sold out almost instantly.
In short, the road from "Chandni Chowk to China" seems as if it has the potential to be paved with gold, but what about the return journey? Perhaps a sequel is in order, a movie where a Beijing street vendor with mad kung fu skills goes to India to learn how to sing and dance? Who wouldn't pay to see Jackie Chan, Kumar and Padukone team up in "From Panjiayuan Market to the Punjab"?
