Reactions to Chandni Chowk to China: Nepal doesn’t like it…
You may remember I spotted a very strange creation that involved India, China and the USA together. Chandni Chowk to China has done reasonably well from what I’ve gathered, but the response is a bit mixed.
It’s pretty much the first Bollywood film ever to be marketed at non-Indians in the USA and it received a larger release than is normal for Indian films in the US market. I guess this is why it seems to have gotten more publicity in the US than is usual, though it’s been lukewarm. My favourite bit from the article is:
Boston Globe’s Michael Hardy calls “Chandni Chowk to China” “Bollywood’s all-singing, all-dancing, all-Hindi bid to conquer America”.
“Backed by Warner Brothers, which is giving it the largest North American release of any Indian film to date, ‘Chandni Chowk’ could, if successful, forecast a veritable monsoon of Bollywood imports,” he says.
“But only if American audiences can accept an action hero who talks to potatoes,” Hrady adds.
In Nepal, however, the film has been banned. Banned because of a scene that was cut! Furthermore the gaffe (a claim that Buddha was born in India, when in fact he was born in Nepal) has triggered new protests over a territory dispute.
