Film Review: KITES

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Nick Brown, Kabir Bedi
Director: Anurag Basu

I know it’s pretty late in the week and the movie has been in theatres for six days. But, what to do? I found it so hard to kick up the enthusiasm to write about it. Such was my disappointment!

THE STORY: J (Hrithik Roshan) is an orphan who lives off his wits in Las Vegas. He teaches dance and also makes some extra money marrying illegal immigrants who want to gain green cards in the USA. One such ‘wife’ is Linda. Gina (Kangana Ranaut) falls in love with J and would like to marry him. He is not interested in her until he realises that she is the only daughter of a millionaire casino owner (Kabir Bedi). He is accepted by her family and soon they are a pair. Gina’s brother Tony (Nick Brown) gets engaged. At the engagement party, J gets re-introduced to Linda as Natasha (Barbara Mori) who is Tony’s fiancée. As expected, J and Natasha aka Linda fall in love. While the one can’t speak Spanish, the other cannot speak English. That is the beginning of the end of their lives as the powerful casino family has friends in high places and cannot take an insult – a double one at that. J and Linda are on the run for the rest of the film till they meet their deaths at different times.

MY PERCEPTION: Why call the film Kites? Kati Patang is more like it, but I suppose the title had already been taken by the Rajesh Khanna-Asha Parekh starrer of the 70s.

Why does Rakesh Roshan believe that resurrecting a Romeo-Juliet tragedy should pay off at this point in time? The times are not the best we have seen and people are looking to sources to raise their hopes. And Bollywood is facing a dearth of good films and scripts. I definitely expected way more from Rakesh Roshan. This is just too sad for words.

That said, I would not say that the film is a complete write-off. It does have its actors and moments. Hrithik Roshan looks GORGEOUS and acts extremely well – his dialogue delivery, his emoting and his onscreen chemistry sets you drooling.

The cinematography is just awesome and the visuals are a joy.

Barbara Mori looks good and acts well. Simply sweet! Why go all the way to Mexico to bring home an average actress is beyond me.

The poster of the film exuded more heat and sensuality than any of the scenes from the film itself. Work of the censor board – I refuse to believe that one.

Kabir Bedi had a blink-and-miss role while Nick Brown gave a good performance as his son Tony and the villain. Kangana Ranaut as the rich Casino owner’s daughter who falls in love with her dance teacher J, is good, nothing exemplary. I think it’s about time she changed the waif-like looks to something a bit more interesting. It is just too repetitive.

The swing from Spanish to English to Hindi – I know we are going global – but to put it in simple Hindi – कटक्था है. You want to write a story, make a script out of it and present it as a film taking on board an excellent Indian hero and an international (?) heroine. You spend millions on this project. But don’t you care that people understand and enjoy what you have created? This is what I would like to ask the Roshan duo.

Verdict: Those who would watch it would do that anyways as I would never have taken someone’s advice if they had told me not to see the film. You have to actually see it to feel the impact of the disappointment hitting you.

Rating: *½ Shaky (Extremely)

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super