Comparing it with Seven Samurai or Sholay will be too ambitious, but writing it off like the way many have done is a bit too harsh for a film which is beautiful in its own way.Many would say that it is a bit too tad and stretched.They are right.May be if it was made today, the length would have been half an hour less , making the film much more sleek than it is.Character portrayal of a few of the members of the gang is shady.Cinematography at times is sketchy .Sans these errs,the film stands tall.It is great to see many of the stalwarts of parallel movies are coming in the same frame for a commercial effort.Brilliant job done by the two Puris,Danny and Naseeruddin.Seeing Mamta Kulkarni in a complete different avatar from the streamy roles she was known for is a welcome break.The movie has its high points like the cattle scene or the Sarfraz-Puri relation portrayal and definitely an engaging climax.Mukesh Tiwari is swashbuckling as Jageera, a character which has unfortunately been forgotten,failing to secure a place amongst the likes of the Gabbars or Mogambos.However, the highest achievement of the film lies in its central theme- a band of retired army men who have been deserted by the society in different ways succeed in the upheaval task of thwarting a menacing bandit's rule despite several stubborn obstacles.In the way they make you laugh,love and cry with them.The theme song by Sonu Nigam is lovable.So is the gyration of Urmila Matondkar in Chhamma Chhamma.Overall, even though it has gone into oblivion with the passage of time, it is a masterpiece from a very good film maker.

I do not blame Indians, as they have a very unique taste for movies. But, even for Indian movie standards China Gate is an absolute wreck.I do not mind the plot is stolen. But, I could tolerate this crap only for the first half than I walked off. Why? Because nothing at all happened in the first half except the fantastic belly dance show of Urmila that has also nothing to do with the film in any way. (Believe me, many of the audience was just there to see only this part). The entire first part of the movie was full of silly dialogs and "keep dragging scenes".One of the fallbacks of the movie is "the cast" also. One dozen of so called action heroes are actually at their 70'ies who need a stick to be able to walk properly! Seeing bunch of Alzheimer driven heroes trying to figth a notorious gang just make me sick. Anyway, since nothing significant happened in the first half I walked off. Do not think I troughly watch the first half. I slept most of the time. Most of the Indian movies have good scores even though the plot is stupid. However in this movie there is not much belly dance show except the one in which Urmila shows her talent. Maybe the movie picks up in the second half, I do not know. But looking at the lame direction in the first half, I can imagine how idiotic the second half with the action scenes the old men in it. A huge waste of three plus some hours. Do not come even any close.

I'm sad. No, I'm really sad. How come a potentially super movie like this goes wrong like that ?!! Well, it didn't go so wrong, but sure it wasn't that right either ! It's a (Seven Samurais) story, yet with 11 fighters, being old ones, having a dishonor they want to wipe as a salvation. It has a B-movie gold, however the movie insists on being not that shiny. Review with me; not all the 11 are being spotted on, so why the big number from the start? We didn't go through the already cared about characters appropriately; it goes like this; one drunk, one rich, one mouthy...etc namely hasty without much writing to utilize the stereotype or make it less tacky. And most of them weren't even done appropriately in the first place (Naseeruddin Shah loves children while having a child of his own, and not being a lost child himself !). The matter of the girl calling the police to forbid the leads of continuing the mission, just for feeling afraid that they may die, is so idiot it's unbelievable. How the corrupted police officer would collect the handsome financial award for capturing the criminal while he'd let him escape ?! And that rich man of the team, he just approved to spend his money, financing the mission, building a school, so easily. Rather, every time these men have a problem with each other it solves itself so easily, for instance; they disagreed, and half of them is about to leave, then they suddenly unsay and stay (??!!).The music is another electronic hell, with no taste but to disparage everything and annoy us. The editing was utterly nerves; it deprived the movie of any specialty, and turned the whole thing into accelerated hubbub. Then, the guy who played the villain, OH MY GOD, he wasn't the worst of this movie; he was the worst Indian actor I have ever seen yet ! What the heck is that? At one point I said to myself why they didn't hire the American comedian (Chris Rock) instead? He would have been at least funnier, and in a comic sense as well ! While being supposedly scary, his scenes came to be laughable due to his flamboyant make-up and imbecile performance. That turned me off, before devastating the power of the conflict. The reputation of holding the record for the highest number of extras and the biggest action sequences filmed in a Hindi film IS shamefully false. The action sequences aren't expensive or excellently made. Average, or in best cases, decent is the word for it. And finally (Urmila Matondkar), as a cameo in the singing sequence, was massively silly and instead of looking sexy she looked like a freaking robot ! In fact, the dance was nerves; just like the movie itself. So as you see, it was generally between average and nerves.I only loved the different format for the Samurais this round, the satire against the police as helpless but colluding; which's something unusual in a story of that sort, the way the script handled the storyline of the village people; from absolute cowards or peace-loving, to brave solders who take their usurped rights by war, and the loose performance of the charismatic (Amrish Puri) as nearly the opposite of anything he used to be before (stealing the show from the movie's lead Om Puri). However I don't think (Akira Kurosawa), the director of the original (Seven Samurais), is so happy with this remake. The movie's makers should have made what could equal such a valuable director and movie. Otherwise why to regard him at the start with a special board ? It's something the makers of the much better and more successful remake (Sholay – 1975) didn't do ! This unprecedented gesture of nostalgia and respect promised of more, but the result was less !(China Gate) is a clear case of B-grade movie-making that ate up A-grade stuff. And the potentially super movie, which you know and have seen many times in many versions, had been disappointed. That's why I'm pretty sad. It reminded me of the story of the handsome prince who was witched into something else his self. Apparently the magic of Bollywood this time was more like evil voodoo, transforming the prince into…Hmmm…not a prince at the least !

This film works as an overlong homage to 'Sholay'. Here a bunch of squabbling, overweight and dishonored former army men fight to capture a notorious bandit and reclaim their pride. Om Puri and Danny Denzongappa are good but Amrish Puri steals the show. The sparks between Amrish and Naseer are worth watching. Urmila has an item number and it's a foot-tapping one! The villain is suitably hammy, though not very tough. The film does tend to drag and could have been at least a half hour shorter. Still, it's watchable for the most part at least on television/DVD.Overall 6/10