The filming of Kung Fu Yoga in Dubai follows a series of blockbusters who have selected the emirate as their filming location this year, including Star Trek which will begin shooting here next week. In addition to being a skilled martial artist, he is also an active director and producer. Khaleej Times OctoChan, a native of Hong Kong, is known around the world for his work on Hollywood films such as The Karate Kid, Shanghai Nights and the Rush Hour franchise. International action star at #Dubai's Al Marmoom Camel Race track /CSqPiHHN43 A series of car chase sequences are also scheduled to be shot in one of Dubai's iconic landmarks. He was spotted at camel race at Dubai's Al Marmoom Camel Race track dressed in the traditional UAE garb, the kandora.ĭirected by Stanley Tong, Kung Fu Yoga will film in Dubai for 33 days and will bring around one hundred international crew to the emirate, as well as use a large pool of local talent for filming. This will be Chan's first time filming in the Middle East. If that happens, it will stand a better chance of holding onto an audience. There’s no obvious reason why good action and a good story shouldn’t go together.Hollywood action star Jackie Chan has begun shooting his new film, Kung Fu Yoga, in Dubai beginning. But that needs to change.Īs more Indian-Chinese co-production films are released in the coming years, filmmakers need to keep in mind that an ideal crossover film has to surpass a spectacle and connect emotionally. Certainly, thinking like this seems pretty pervasive in film industries of both China and India. Maybe the makers of Kung Fu Yoga reckoned that the digital-native audience, who get profuse and intense audiovisual experience outside the multiplex, desire and expect nothing more than mindless spectacle. More Chinese filmmakers now want to come to India and make films here,” Sood, who also stars in Xuan Zang, said in an interview with Times of India. The two countries might share a different relationship politically, but cinema is bringing them together. Indian actors are working in Chinese films and vice versa, and both countries are gaining from this exchange. “ India and China should make many films together. Co-production films help Indian film gain access to China by circumventing a quota system for import films and benefit Chinese films as well. There are joint productions, festivals and exchange programs for artists and students to encourage appreciation of popular culture. Similar to Kung Fu Yoga, a 2017 Hollywood film about a mission to uncover an ancient Indian treasure in Tanzania using historical knowledge and Chinese martial arts, the two Asian giants are. They are released in Chinese cinemas and shown on the movie channel of state broadcaster China Central Television. In the past few years, India and China have been collaborating more to produce films. Though no match for the success of Hollywood, Bollywood films have gained popularity in China in recent years. Xuan Zang is China’s official pick for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards although it wasn't nominated. The other two projects are a biographical feature of Xuan Zang, based on the seventh-century monk’s pilgrimage to India, and Buddies in India, which is comedian Wang Baoqiang’s directorial debut. Interestingly, Kung Fu Yoga is one of three Chinese-Indian projects commissioned during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to India in 2015. Jackie Chan, Sonu Sood and Bollywood actress Amrya Dastur. “From fire-eaters and exotic magicians who perform rope tricks, to multiple cameos by snakes and modern-day princesses, the film shamelessly panders to all manner of stereotypes,” writes film critic Rajeev Masand in. Sood, who starred in Bollywood blockbusters Jodhaa Akbar and Dabangg, plays the villain - a descendant of the original owners of the treasure. While Livemint describes the film as an “ill-advised mash-up”, Firstpost says Kung Fu Yoga is a “dated tosh”.Ĭhan, an archaeologist, teams up with Indian professor Ashmita (Disha Patani) and her assistant Kyra (Amyra Dastur) to locate India’s lost treasure in Tibet. The filmmaker, Chan’s frequent collaborator Stanley Tong, seems to have taken Kung Fu Yoga’s plot from the formulaic recycle bin. One reason for the poor reception was perhaps the lack of a decent script.
The film was shot in Tibet, Dubai, Iceland and India, and with a line-up like martial arts legend Jackie Chan and Indian actors Sonu Sood, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur, it's a surprise that it failed to strike a chord with the Indian audience.
On the face of it, it’s odd because this archaeological adventure has all the hit elements that would impress the audience.