| China Town | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Rafi Mecartin |
| Written by | Rafi Mecartin |
| Produced by | Antony Perumbavoor |
| Starring | Mohanlal Jayaram Dileep Suraj Venjaramoodu |
| Narrated by | Jagathy Sreekumar |
| Cinematography | Alagappan N. |
| Edited by | Don Max |
| Music by | Jassie Gift |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget | ₹6 crore (US$710,000)[1][2] |
| Box office | ₹13.2crore |
China Town is a 2011 IndianMalayalam-languageaction comedy film written and directed by theRafi Mecartin duo and produced byAntony Perumbavoor under the companyAashirvad Cinemas. The film starsMohanlal in dual role as a father and son, withJayaram,Dileep andSuraj Venjaramoodu in lead roles, whileKavya Madhavan,Poonam Bajwa,Dipa Shah,Pradeep Rawat,Captain Raju,Shanavas andShankar plays the pivotal roles.Jagathy Sreekumar makes a cameo appearance. The film is loosely based onThe Hangover.
The plot follows Mathukutty, Zachariah, and Binoy fromKerala, who reachedChinatown inGoa to claim the ownership of their family'sCasino but inadvertently there they get embroiled with local mafia and drug dealers led by Gowda, a criminal who killed their parents. The film was released on 14 April 2011 in India.[3][4] Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a blockbuster at the box office.[5]
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Four friends, Xavier, Wilson Gomez, Jayakrishnan and David bought a casino and were celebrating the profits with their families when a powerful politician, Gowda, who used to have a monopoly on the casinos inGoa, intrudes. Xavier held out against the don. Although he, Jayakrishnan and David were killed, he managed to hold off the gang long enough for all of their wives to escape with the children. Gomez survives and settles inGoa with his daughter, Emily.
Xavier's son, Mathukutty became a local don. His brother had eloped with a girl from the medical college and he lives with Rosamma, whose father has raised both the brothers. He was attending a retreat to get rid of his thuggish ways. David's son Zachariah became a money-minded man. Jayakrishnan's son Binoy became a lovesick youth, who was the victim of six love failures. Gomez sends each of them a letter stating that he had bought aCasino and wanted to share the profit between the sons of his friends.
The three meet Gowda, who is now a minister inGoa, who places them in prison under a false drug case. They get out by selling their casino. They meet again on several occasions and finally Gowda is arrested.
In August 2010, it was reported thatMohanlal,Jayaram, andDileep will come together withSuraj Venjaramoodu in a film titledChina Town to be directed by theRafi Mecartin duo and produced byAntony Perumbavoor for the companyAashirvad Cinemas.[7] The duo themselves wrote the screenplay, which was initially meant for Mohanlal alone, but as the plot developed it required two more actors in the lead roles and Dileep and Jayaram was approached.[8]China Town began production on 20 December 2010.[9] Filming began inOoty,Tamil Nadu.[10]Principal photography took place mainly at theRamoji Film City,Hyderabad.[11][12] The set was made by art director Boban. Some parts were filmed inGoa andErnakulam.[13]
China Town received mixed reviews from critics, with praise on the cast performance, comedy scenes and music, but received criticism for the screenplay. Veeyen of Nowrunning.com rated the film 2/5 and said "Despite the spectacular star castChinatown, is yet another comedy from Rafi Mecartin. It's a mishmash of second hand ideas that have long had their run in movies."[14] Paresh C. Pallicha ofRediff also gave the film a 2/5 rating and said, "The film virtually piggybacks on the stars to get the momentum as there is no script to speak of. The duo Rafi Mecartin that was known for their comical writing in the nineties has now reached a stage where they borrow dialogues from email forwards. That's the sorry state of the film. It will be futile to dwell on the performance of the actors as there is no solid material to back them. This one's a no-brainer and can be watched if you are not looking for thought-provoking stuff."[15] The reviewer ofSify said, "Chinatown works fine, if you leave your brains back home. It belongs to the 'don't think too much about what is happening' kind, which defies logic but leaves you in splits at times.".[16]The New Indian Express wrote that "The movie has a good sense of pacing in the first half, but fails to up the ante" and that Mohanlal is "quite impressive", Jayaram is okay, Dileep with his comedy numbers, is "the live element in the movie", and concluded that "Overall,Chinatown, which could have been a lot more, in absence of genuineness, ends up being a 'fan' carnival than a fun carnival".[17]
The film was made at a budget of₹7 crore (US$830,000).[1][2] The film which had 500 shows per day, covered its production cost in just two weeks run.[1] It got a distributor's share over₹5.5 crore (US$650,000).[18] And grossed₹9.2 crore (US$1.1 million) within one month.The Economic Times called it a "blockbuster film".[5]
| China Town | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 11 March 2011 (2011-03-11) | |||
| Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 20:45 | |||
| Label | Mathrubhumi Music Satyam Audios | |||
| Producer | Jassie Gift | |||
| Jassie Gift chronology | ||||
| ||||
The film's music was then composed byJassie Gift. The lyrics were byAnil Panachooran and Santhosh Varma. The audio release function was held at Kadavu Resorts,Kozhikode, on 2 March 2011. Jassie reused his tune "Gaganave Baagi" from theKannada filmSanju Weds Geetha for the song "Arike Ninnalum".[19]
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Innu Penninu" | Jassie Gift,Manjari, Rajalakshmi | 5:26 |
| 2. | "Arike Ninnalum" | M. G. Sreekumar,K. S. Chithra | 4:41 |
| 3. | "Aaraanu Koottu" | Afsal,Pradeep Palluruthy,Jassie Gift | 4:21 |
| 4. | "Mohapattam" | Afsal,Jassie Gift, Ranjith, Rijiya | 4:56 |
| 5. | "Aaraanu" | Kavalam Sreekumar | 1:46 |