Kites – Film Review

Film: “Kites”
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, Kabir Bedi, Nick Brown
Director: Anurag Basu


Music: Rajesh Roshan
Producer : Rakesh Roshan

Too many strings attached to this “Kites” that never soars to the heights it should and becomes a predictable tale of star-crossed lovers set in the glittering lights of Las Vegas and the brooding deserts of Mexico. It’s “Matchpoint”, “Bonny and Clyde” and much else rolled into one, failing to take off on its own.

The problem with “Kites” is that it is never truly its own film. The first half constantly takes you back to Woody Allen’s compelling “Matchpoint” with the doomed quartet of Jai (Hrithik), his girlfriend Gina (Kangana Ranaut), her brother Tony (Nick Brown) and his fiancée Natasha (Barbara).

Life is set to roll for the rakish, down and out Jai with Gina, the fabulously rich, hopelessly in love daughter of a Vegas casino owner, until he meets Natasha, the exotic Mexican immigrant also looking out for the good life. The attraction is inevitable – and fatal.

The pull is irresistible. Designer watches, flashy cars and jewels beckon but Jai and Natasha are caught in a relationship that transcends language. She knows no English and he knows no Spanish.

So far so good, before the script decides to meander into a “Bonny and Clyde” caper with the couple on the run from the powerful Tony robbing a bank. Completely unnecessary and giving no time for the intensity of the romance to develop.

The narrative moves back and forth in time, beginning with a bloodied Jai tumbling out of a train wagon and stumbling across the desertscape to look for his ladylove.

So you get a sense of what is in store. The predictability of the script is not really a problem – the opening line of the film lays the tenor, with Jai in a voiceover telling you that two kites flying together can never soar very high or very long because one has to get cut.

This is a chronicle of a tragedy foretold, much in the way of other epic romances. Dare I say Romeo Juliet!

It could have worked. The much talked about chemistry between the lead couple is in evidence, but not enough. Director Anurag Basu is at his best in the intimate scenes.

Like when Jai looks out of his window to see Natasha being roughed up by Tony and goes to comfort her. There are no words but the shadow play on the wall of their fingers intertwining is romance as it should be.

The soul of true love is there somewhere, but it gets lost in the two-hour film that also brings in murder, torture and gunmen galore. Basu seems lost in the larger macro frame of the film.

The two main characters are not fleshed out enough, and the others around them are like caricatures. How many Bobs (Kabir Bedi as the powerful, ruthless casino owner who does not balk at shooting down cheaters) have we seen, or Tonys, the archetypal jealous boyfriend with an army of goons behind him?

Many loosely scripted scenes as well and gaps that really should have been filled for a lucid narrative. A script doctor was badly need to stitch up the loose ends.

But the superb cinematography of “Kites” that has the look of a truly international film, Rajesh Roshan’s lilting music — “Zindagi, zindagi” is true winner — and some heartwarming moments score.

Barbara Mori also strikes a chord, and she’s a real good looker. But the best for the last — Hrithik Roshan looks better than he has in any other film, and with him dominating virtually every frame, this one is a treat for his fans. Go swoon, if you must.

I have a ‘badmaash’ streak in me – Shahid Kapoor

Mumbai, He played a bad guy in dark thriller “Kaminey” and will now be seen as a conman in “Badmaash Company”. Shahid Kapoor says playing characters with a negative streak is an “escape route” from his good-boy image in real life.

“I think I always wanted to be a good boy, but I think inherently I have a ‘badmaash’ (naughty) streak in me. That’s why I love doing this role. This is my escape route. What I couldn’t do in my childhood, (I’m) doing it in films,” Shahid told IANS in an interview.

The actor is thrilled to get such a role but adds that he doesn’t play a ‘kamina’ (rogue) in director Parmeet Sethi’s “Badmaash Company”.

“I won’t really call this guy a bad guy. ‘Badmaash’ is a little less of a bad guy than a ‘kamina’. In ‘Kaminey’, from the very beginning Charlie is edgy and different, but here when the film begins you will find that the four characters are normal middle-class guys and then they get into doing these scams and schemes,” the actor explained.

“In ‘Kaminey’ Charlie never used to think…he was spontaneous, but here the guy is lot more of a thinker, planner and schemer. I think it’s fun playing a bad guy,” he added.

“These guys want to do things on their own terms. That’s what today’s youth are all about? They want to set their own rules, make things in their own way. They find their own route to success. That’s why the tag line says ‘they want to do all the wrong things in the right way’,” said Shahid.

Set in the 1990s, Sethi’s directorial debut “Badmaash Company” will see four young friends – Shahid, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das and Miang Chang from middle-class Mumbai joining hands to start a company. Their business is an instant success because they find a way to beat the system.

The actor says every con job shown in the movie is taken from crime stories published in the newspapers.

“When I spoke to him (director Sethi), he told me all con jobs have been picked up from newspapers. So these things happened and he has taken the basic thought of every con job from real incidents and that’s why it will seem believable. It is the strength of the film,” the 29-year-old said.

“And he has based it in the 1990s and the period is apt for this kind of plot.”

Shahid claims “Badmaash Company” is more believable than 2005 movie “Bunty Aur Babli” in which Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji conned people.

“It’s a genre that really excites me. These types of film are made less in India. I think films like ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ were not really con films…it was more of a fun movie. This one is more believable. The con jobs that have been shown in the film I haven’t seen in any Hindi or English film. It’s more original,” he said.

Shahid debuted in Bollywod with “Ishq Vishk” in 2003. After that he featured in films like “Fida”, “Dil Maange More”, “36 China Town” and “Vivah”, but he got his major break with 2007 hit “Jab We Met”. It was followed by “Kaminey”, which won him critical and commercial acclaim.

Shahid says he’s been lucky to get challenging roles after Imtiaz Ali’s “Jab We Met”.

“I am happy. This is something that I hadn’t done for the first three-four years of my career. Of late…it’s exciting to get the opportunity to do roles like this.”

“Sometimes you get roles that break the ice. For me, ‘Kaminey’ and ‘Jab We Met’ were of those kind. It showed me new light. This film is also like that but apart from just the role, I think it’s the space of the film…a con job film based in the 1990s, a very youth-oriented film and I am working with three new people.

“When I read the script, I found it very, very fresh. I have been really lucky in the last three years to get one significant film every year,” he said.

Shahid’s next will be “Milenge Milenge” opposite Kareena Kapoor. He is also working in his father Pankaj Kapoor’s directorial venture “Mausam”.

Bollywood funny, yet fascinating: Barbara

Mexican beauty Barbara Mori, who makes her Bollywood debut with Kites, says she finds the melodrama and song-dance sequences of Hindi films "funny yet fascinating". She is also amazed at the brouhaha kissing scenes generate in India.

“I knew nothing about Bollywood when Kites came to me. Rakesh Roshan (producer) and Anurag Basu (director) narrated the script to me and the only thing I felt was that this was such a different film," Barbara, who will be seen as Hrithik Roshan's love interest in Kites, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

"Then I saw some Bollywood films and realised there’s a lot more dancing and singing than we have in Mexico. I found it funny in the beginning.

“There was a scene where Hrithik is supposed to have blood on his body, then there were these singing and dancing sequences - it was a little funny, yet I was quite fascinated. Now I look forward to more Bollywood movies,” she added.

The 32-year-old is on her third visit to India ever since her association with Kites, to be released by Reliance BIG Pictures May 21.

Another aspect of Bollywood that amazes Barbara is the brouhaha over kissing and lovemaking scenes.

“I respect what culture is followed in each country just as I respect the culture in my own place. The culture in Indian films is different. There I can show nudity, at least partly if not fully. And kissing is not a big deal. But here somehow it’s a big thing. That was quite amazing.

“In fact, before beginning to shoot Kites, I told Hrithik, ’We’re kissing many times in the script, won’t it be a problem in your country?’ He said ‘Yeah, but things are more open now’.

"I have heard Anurag Basu has made some really good bold movies and I feel kissing must be okay now in Bollywood,” said Barbara who is totally kicked about the release of Kites next month.

“This is a very different movie, the first biggest movie I have done, my first English movie and the first action movie for me… I never imagined shooting in Bollywood...it has been so exciting.

"I really love the story. From the beginning, when I met Anurag Basu and Rakesh Roshan in Los Angeles, I felt really touched to see such a different love story - that of a Mexican and Indian falling in love without any language barrier," she said.

Unlike most other foreign actors who are expected to deliver dialogues in Hindi, Barbara was lucky as her character had to speak in Spanish and English only.

But she was petrified of doing underwater scenes. “Underwater scenes we shot in the Maldives. They were very complicated and tough. Water, sea… I don’t like! Still we had to put oxygen masks, go underwater and act. For me, that was a big thing. It was difficult, but I sailed through…,” she said.

She says Hrithik gave immense support throughout the shooting.

“Hrithik has been a superb co-star. He is a great actor and has delivered some very good performances. I have seen some of his movies. I don’t remember their names but I really liked some. I specifically liked the one in which he plays a soldier… what’s that called? Ummmm….Lak… Lakshya,” said Barbara.

She also said that Hrithik taught her Hindi. “I taught a bit of Spanish to Hrithik and he taught me some Hindi…but all the bad words!”

Barbara will be returning to Mexico Saturday and says she definitely wants to come back in time for the film’s release.

HT