Seems that the title of Akshay Kumar’s next film should be Chandni Chowk to Bangkok instead of to China. Why you may ask? Well, director Nikhil Advani wanted to shoot portions of the film in China, but because of the preparations for the little sports event known as the Olympics, they had to move to Bangkok.
Advani told Subhash K Jha, “It was the year of the Olympics in China and it became impossible beyond a point to shoot in the country where our film is based. Maybe a quieter less flamboyant film…but not the kind of action that Akshay has shot.” Adding, “Bangkok’s topography is quite similar to China. Also, it’s a very Bollywood-friendly country. So we just had to let go of the real country.”
Since the story of the film has Akshay being mistaken for a Martial Arts expert the actions shots, especially the fight sequences, had to be incredible. To go up against Akki, Advani hired two big Martial arts stars, “Gordon Lieu is a well-known name in Hollywood and Roger Yuan is the only Asian actor who works out of Bollywood. They both play arch-villains. Then I’ve a cast of actors who are stalwarts in China. They held on their own against Akshay, even when they were taken out of their home ground and put into Bangkok masquerading as China.”
It is not only Akshay that gets to play at doing stunts, Mithun Chakraborty also gets into the action, “Mithunda will kick some ass too. Action is the backbone of my film. While other films have item songs Chandni Chowk To China has item-action. It’s the action scenes that move the plot forward.”
Advani says that he is getting nervous since Chandni Chowk To China is scheduled to release on January 16th. The film also stars Deepika Padukone in a double role. We know we can’t wait to see it!
