KUNG FU YOGA (English/Hindi) - Just fast paced action, eye-catching visuals, stunning girls, a little fun and no yoga results in a hugely disappointing film. (Review by Bobby Sing)

Jackie Chan was my first childhood hero (beyond Hindi films) since the 80s, and it’s really great to see him playing the lead, performing unbelievable stunts even after almost four long decades at the age of 60+.

Sadly his last many ventures have all been just average or below average products not offering much to praise or cheer, but unfortunately the present one can easily be rated amongst the worst, with a forced mix of just everything resulting in a hugely disappointing film.

Reportedly the first project made under the India-China co-production treaty, it’s seems to be a film made with ‘an early Ismail Merchant’ kind of mindset wherein India was shown as the land of magicians, snake charmers, beggars, fortune tellers, colourful fairs and different kind of people wearing unusual attires. In search of the lost treasure of Magadha dynasty in India, the film begins with a motion capture animation talking about the past and then keeps jumping from one location to another in the present featuring three Indian actors along Chan.

Without any kind of logic in the writing, representing sheer absurdity, its like they just went to the various locations to shoot and then edited them all together forming a complete film. And the regions begin from snowy mountains in China moving to Tibet, Dubai and Rajasthan following a diamond-studded key to the hidden ancient treasure in India. Written and directed by Stanley Tong, a long time associate of Chan, KUNG FU YOGA might have been designed as a fun filled roller coaster on paper keeping in mind the Indian and international viewers, but it never turns out to be the same simply missing the expected thrills, fun or entertainment in its less than two hours of duration.

The eye-catching visuals, action and a breathless space are the only features taken care of in the film with the Yoga getting its deserving mention in only one scene or rather a line. Hence, its title is also completely misleading adding to the film’s major drawbacks. Still the most ridiculous moment of the film comes right in the end when the entire cast suddenly starts dancing on the spot in front of an ancient temple kind of building, choreographed in a pure Bollywood style. Plus I cannot say why a whole line about Buddhism was muted by the censors in a particular sequence.

In all, KUNG FU YOGA has the amazing miracle man Jackie Chan playing an expert archaeologist as an extension of his character in THE MYTH. And you do get to see the globally famous charisma of the phenomenon in a few selected scenes along with his trademark humour. Among the Indian actors, Sonu Sood does almost nothing playing the stylish villain and both Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur certainly got the roles because of their on-screen beauty and presence more than anything else.

However, I would not hide the fact that I did enjoy watching the two along with Jackie Chan in many scenes having good fun together. But talking about inspirations, KUNG FU YOGA did made me recall our own Hindi dud ZALZALA (1988) and its temple of gold too, which was ironically largely inspired from the English film MACKENNA’s GOLD (1969).

Rating : 1.5 / 5