36 China Town

About the film

36 China Town is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language mystery comedy thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan and produced by Subhash Ghai. It is an official adaptation of the 1992 American film Once upon a Crime (which in turn is a remake of the 1960 Italian film Crimen). The film stars an ensemble cast, including Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Upen Patel (in his debut), Paresh Rawal, Payal Rohatgi, Johnny Lever and Tannaz Irani. Priyanka Chopra and Isha Koppikar make cameo appearances. The film follows the investigation of a police officer trying to find the killer of a wealthy casino owner, Sonia Chang in China Town.

Plot

The only child of millionaire Sonia Chang, Vicky, has been kidnapped. To get her son back, she puts out a reward of 25 lakh rupees. She lives in her huge mansion named "36 China Town" in Goa with a housekeeper couple, Mr. and Mrs. Lobo. Sonia is consoled by Rocky, a local and the famous playboy of China Town.

Raj, a struggling actor, and Priya, who ran away from home, have a serendipitous encounter with each other. They find a child who appears to be all alone in Mumbai. They take pity on him, but after seeing a missing persons advertisement, they realise that the child is the son of Sonia Chang. Tempted by the reward money, they team up and decide to bring the child back home. Before leaving, they call Chang and tell her that they have her child. She was discussing the change in her will with her lawyer, Mr. Dixit, when the duo informed her. Meanwhile, Raj starts falling in love with Priya.

Raj and Priya come to Goa, where they run into a drunkard loitering near Sonia's mansion. The drunkard runs away on seeing them. They are horrified to see Sonia dead. The duo run, but realize that the child is left behind inside the mansion. Raj enters the mansion again to take him. He sees two eyes and legs behind a cupboard. Terrified, he gets out of the mansion with the child. Raj and Priya then inform Goa police about the murder. Raj and Priya go back to the mansion to take her suitcase. Raj is arrested by Inspector Karan. Raj refuses to name Priya as an accomplice. She takes Vicky to a church to drop him off but is seen by Rocky with the kid. Rocky calls the police and Priya also gets arrested and sent to jail. Priya and Raj become the prime suspects in the murder. Inside the jail, they both fall for each other.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, with lyrics penned by Sameer. The music was released by Tips Music. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's ninth highest-selling.

The song "Aashiqui Mein Teri" was remade as "Aashiqui Mein Teri 2.0" for Reshammiya's 2020 film Happy Hardy and Heer and is performed by Reshammiya and singer Ranu Mondal.

Key details