Disturbing yet enthralling

Crappy film

Brilliant and touching

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I do not blame Indians, as they have a very unique taste for movies. But, even for Indian movie standards China Gate is an absolute wreck.I do not mind the plot is stolen. But, I could tolerate this crap only for the first half than I walked off. Why? Because nothing at all happened in the first half except the fantastic belly dance show of Urmila that has also nothing to do with the film in any way. (Believe me, many of the audience was just there to see only this part). The entire first part of the movie was full of silly dialogs and "keep dragging scenes".One of the fallbacks of the movie is "the cast" also. One dozen of so called action heroes are actually at their 70'ies who need a stick to be able to walk properly! Seeing bunch of Alzheimer driven heroes trying to figth a notorious gang just make me sick. Anyway, since nothing significant happened in the first half I walked off. Do not think I troughly watch the first half. I slept most of the time. Most of the Indian movies have good scores even though the plot is stupid. However in this movie there is not much belly dance show except the one in which Urmila shows her talent. Maybe the movie picks up in the second half, I do not know. But looking at the lame direction in the first half, I can imagine how idiotic the second half with the action scenes the old men in it. A huge waste of three plus some hours. Do not come even any close.

I'm sad. No, I'm really sad. How come a potentially super movie like this goes wrong like that ?!! Well, it didn't go so wrong, but sure it wasn't that right either ! It's a (Seven Samurais) story, yet with 11 fighters, being old ones, having a dishonor they want to wipe as a salvation. It has a B-movie gold, however the movie insists on being not that shiny. Review with me; not all the 11 are being spotted on, so why the big number from the start? We didn't go through the already cared about characters appropriately; it goes like this; one drunk, one rich, one mouthy...etc namely hasty without much writing to utilize the stereotype or make it less tacky. And most of them weren't even done appropriately in the first place (Naseeruddin Shah loves children while having a child of his own, and not being a lost child himself !). The matter of the girl calling the police to forbid the leads of continuing the mission, just for feeling afraid that they may die, is so idiot it's unbelievable. How the corrupted police officer would collect the handsome financial award for capturing the criminal while he'd let him escape ?! And that rich man of the team, he just approved to spend his money, financing the mission, building a school, so easily. Rather, every time these men have a problem with each other it solves itself so easily, for instance; they disagreed, and half of them is about to leave, then they suddenly unsay and stay (??!!).The music is another electronic hell, with no taste but to disparage everything and annoy us. The editing was utterly nerves; it deprived the movie of any specialty, and turned the whole thing into accelerated hubbub. Then, the guy who played the villain, OH MY GOD, he wasn't the worst of this movie; he was the worst Indian actor I have ever seen yet ! What the heck is that? At one point I said to myself why they didn't hire the American comedian (Chris Rock) instead? He would have been at least funnier, and in a comic sense as well ! While being supposedly scary, his scenes came to be laughable due to his flamboyant make-up and imbecile performance. That turned me off, before devastating the power of the conflict. The reputation of holding the record for the highest number of extras and the biggest action sequences filmed in a Hindi film IS shamefully false. The action sequences aren't expensive or excellently made. Average, or in best cases, decent is the word for it. And finally (Urmila Matondkar), as a cameo in the singing sequence, was massively silly and instead of looking sexy she looked like a freaking robot ! In fact, the dance was nerves; just like the movie itself. So as you see, it was generally between average and nerves.I only loved the different format for the Samurais this round, the satire against the police as helpless but colluding; which's something unusual in a story of that sort, the way the script handled the storyline of the village people; from absolute cowards or peace-loving, to brave solders who take their usurped rights by war, and the loose performance of the charismatic (Amrish Puri) as nearly the opposite of anything he used to be before (stealing the show from the movie's lead Om Puri). However I don't think (Akira Kurosawa), the director of the original (Seven Samurais), is so happy with this remake. The movie's makers should have made what could equal such a valuable director and movie. Otherwise why to regard him at the start with a special board ? It's something the makers of the much better and more successful remake (Sholay – 1975) didn't do ! This unprecedented gesture of nostalgia and respect promised of more, but the result was less !(China Gate) is a clear case of B-grade movie-making that ate up A-grade stuff. And the potentially super movie, which you know and have seen many times in many versions, had been disappointed. That's why I'm pretty sad. It reminded me of the story of the handsome prince who was witched into something else his self. Apparently the magic of Bollywood this time was more like evil voodoo, transforming the prince into…Hmmm…not a prince at the least !

An excellent idea originally thought up by the Late Akiro Kurosawa copied very successfully in Sholay and very haphazardly shown with total and complete failure in ChinaGate. Inspired(this word has been given a whole new dimension by Anu Mallik) by the Seven Samurais this is a story about 10 men disgraced in war out to redeem their glory. Great till here. Enter the likes of Om Puri, Danny, Amrish Puri and Naserruddin Shah and u think its going to be a cracker. Enter Viju Khote, Sameer Soni and some others whom I can't even name and this movie becomes absolutely unwatchable. Mamta Kulkarni is in a totally unglamorous role and we all know about those accusations which are being thrown around thick and fast. Though she does give a emotional and certain sense to the movie which goes absolutely berserk at times. U have very bad background music, which rings in your ears and horrible cinematography which fails to capture the better shots. The shot in which vultures hover around waiting for the corpse is great but it is highly overdone and occurs at least 15 times with all those irritating loud noises in the background. And u have a completely hopeless Sameer Soni who is forever hovering around Mamta trying to get a peek into her u know what. The action sequences r also trite with the same things being done repeatedly. Twice in the movie u see horsemen after being shot moving back thru the air as their horses move forward. Though this is the normal trick it is rarely possible to discern it in the movie. The movie is salvaged by the excellent 'Chamma Chamma' dance number by Urmila. The proof of this is the poster outside Plaza which has Urmila covering the maximum amount of area in the poster as compared to any other single person. The choreography and music is excellent though the lyrics hardly mean a thing(does it really matter anyway). The other saving graces are Danny with his great diction and Nasseruddin Shah with his extraordinary dialog delivery specially the one that he tells Amrish Puri after saving his life. Om Puri fails to impress as much though he is passable. The others make a downright ass of themselves and makes u wonder if such people can ever be in the Army. A great military movie has been hog washed to a typical Bollywood mirch masala. I think Rajkumar Santoshi was sleeping during this movie. Said to be the costliest movie with an estimated budget of Rs. 20 crores you wonder at the end of the 3 hr ordeal as to where the money was spent. Disappointing fare on the whole.

The story of China gate is basically stolen from Kurosawas Seven Samurai, which isn't very strange since it's a great story. Seen in a cinema in Bombay, it was an extraordninary experience in every way. The action scenes were explosive, to say the least, and the characters absolutely marvelous. The way the plot suddenly is interrupted by amazing dance- and song performences is indeed a different experience for western people filled with the American way of making films.If you didn't like Schindlers list, this is the movie for you. It's sure to give any mindless Hollywood action pic an even match.