Everybody had huge Expectations from the movie of the week Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan, seen in a leading role after 2 years and Mexican beauty Barbara Mori. The movie was produced by Papa Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu, the new age maestro director in the making. The movie had a fantastic promotion and a mega release. The english version edited to 90 minutes by Brett Ratner and the traditional Hindi 130 minute version were the launchpad for Hrithik Roshan in north american markets. The Hispanic speaking audience were to be lured by their star Barbara Mori. However one important ingredient to the film was forgotten in all this mix. The story !!
Kites has such a simple and predictable story that it almost seems straight out of 1980s. The story is a mishmash of Revenge starring Kevin Costner’s revenge on-the-road saga , Ek Duje Ke Liye with its 2 lovers speaking different languages and Rakesh Roshan’s own Koyla where Shahrukh Khan runs away with the villains to-be-wife Madhuri Dixit. Infact the film has such a predictable story line that you can sleep through it and still narrate the proceedings. The ending is a bit bizarre.
The music is average. The photography is brilliant though and the money seems well spent on the locales of New Mexico, Las Vegas and the American freeways. The car chases and the stunts are interesting and very well filmed but the dialogues and attempted comedy were ridiculous at times. ‘Mein ullu ki pathhi hoon’ was straight out of a flop Rakesh Roshan film. The mix of English, Spanish with subtitles and Hindi is bound to confuse the user. I am sure the non-urban Indian audience will hate this part the most. Many would still wonder why the film was named ‘Kites’ . Hilarious to hear ‘Kaaipo Chhe’ and ‘Dheel De’ in the movie hall.
Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori both act decently, Kangana Ranaut as Casino owner Kabir Bedi’s daughter and and Australian actor Nick Brown, the villain, who is Barbara’s to be husband both have a very predictable role. In fact Nick Browns screams and looks stupid in parts. Kabir Bedi has nothing much to do except shout orders. The movie tries to be a showreel of Hrithik Roshan more than anything. The extreme closeups, the slow-mo walk, the washboard abs, the smile and it goes on and on. But Hrithik Roshan overacts in scenes in which simple acting is needed. It seems everything he does it to showcase his talent and not as the script of the film requires.
Hrithik Roshan does 1 film in 2 years, yet he chooses a script like this where he doesn’t have a challenging enough role. He could have very well experimented with the role he chooses to do, what with the unlimited budget. He infact looks repeating his acts and even the dance moves now. At times it reminded me of ‘Hide n Seek’ Biscuit ads he does. As some people said Hrithik Roshan can only do the ‘extreme’ roles. either of a superhero, a super thief, a super king or a mentally retarded. Anything ordinary and he doesn’t deliver !! Luckily in his next film Guzaarish he is playing a ‘paraplegic’. More a familiar territory for him. Both Rakesh Roshan and Hrithik Roshan needs to understand that he isn’t ‘God’s gift to Bollywood’.
Barbara should stick to doing American and Mexican television. She smiles a bit more than required, I think. Kangana Ranaut looks sharp but her speech delivery looks weak and even Katrina Kaif’s Hindi sounds better than her. She needs a speech diction crash course.
All in all, a huge disppointment in the end for everybody who was waiting for this big summer release. People will watch it for Hrithik Roshan and also the fact that there is no other big film release for next 2 weeks. But this Kite is not flying anywhere, absolutely no wind.
My Ratings : 4/10 – Better to fly real kites, more fun. This one is really really boring.
From Next Friday this drought would be hopefully over starting with Housefull starring Akshay Kumar and gang ,directed by Sajid Khan, the film will open to full houses thanks to the songs, the stars, big budget setup, funny promos and a recent drought of quality film entertainment. Will it live up to the hype is another story.
Next up is Yash Raj venture Badmaash Company starring Shahid Kapur, Anushka Sharma and directed by Parmeet Sethi this film is targeted towards youth with its young starcast, foregin locations, casinos and theft theme. The film has a young and fresh look and an average music but would certainly appeal all fans of such movies.
Kites will be the biggest release of the month starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori and the rest. Hrithik Roshan has a great box-office pull and his last major release Jodhaa Akbar was couple of years ago ( if you do not count Luck by Chance – where he was more a supporting role) . This film with supposedly hot scenes of the leading pair, fantastic action and romance appeals to young and old. The film has an international song less version as well and would certainly open the biggest this year, at least so far.
Rajneeti is the first major release which comes 2 weeks after Kites and promises to be an interesting political thriller loosley based on the mega-epic Mahabharata and featuring hottest actors like Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpayee, Naseeruddin Shah, Arjun Rampal , Katrina Kaif and this generation’s hottest young actor Ranbeer Kapoor in possibly a role with grey shades. This film based on Indian politics in the Hindi belt and directed by Prakash Jha is sure to attract both masses and classes to the cinema. People are loving the promos and cannot wait for it to release.
Mani Ratnam’s bilingual Raavan starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda and ensemble cast is the next one, releasing on 18th June. This film based on another mega-epic Ramayana is shot simultaneously in both Hindi and Tamil, has music by A R Rehman and is a modern day adaptation of the epic from the point of view of Raavan. The film shot in jungle of Kerala and Madhya Pradesh would surely be the one to watch out for simple because of Mani Ratnam’s magical touch.
Station of Disorientation 