Movie Review: Kites

Vegas Meets Bollywood as Stunts Fail to Lift ‘Kites’: Review
Bloomberg, 26-May-10
Review by Indranil Ghosh

Cars smashed to smithereens,adrenalin-pumping chases, the brawn of Hrithik Roshan and aSpanish beauty shedding inhibitions and clothes all helped“Kites” become the first Bollywood movie to open in the top10 in the U.S. and Canada.

The heady cocktail was mixed by Roshan’s father Rakesh, anactor-turned-director-turned-producer. The movie made almost $1million in its opening weekend as movie-goers forgave itswafer-thin plot.

“Kites” has a backdrop of glitzy Las Vegas and ruggedNevada and New Mexico. It is boosted by high-octane adventureand the star’s looks. He plays Jay, a conman who gets by withhis green card, wits and salsa-dancing skills. Blinded bymoney, he romances the beauteous Kangana Ranaut, daughter ofcasino don Kabir Bedi.

Things go wrong when he falls in love with Barbara Mori,fiancee of Kangana’s brother. As it turns out, Barbara is oneof Jay’s many “wives” he married for cash. What follows is aforbidden romance, with Hrithik and Barbara taking off in arunaway adventure to escape the villainous don.

Originally an illegal immigrant from Mexico, Barbara hadmade a marriage of convenience with Hrithik. Then, they hadgone their separate ways, she to transform into a classy ladylove of the rich don’s son Nick and he, to the arms of Kangana.

Scanty Clothes

While Mori makes obvious attempts to sizzle with scantyclothes and come-hither smiles, she is simply too old-lookingfor the fresh-faced Hrithik. Instead of passionate romance, weget zero chemistry.

Hrithik, a dancer-cum-stuntman-cum-body builder-cum actor,contorts in the usual gravity-defying manner to indifferentmusic. To complete the adventure, there’s a Western-style bankrobbery thrown in.

For the Indian audience, bewildered by the rapid-fireSpanish rattled by the heroine, there’s a Hindi-speakingstranger. He gives over his car to the escaping duo, and is outof the script as fast as many of the other side characters.Kangna Ranaut is convincing in her role of a disturbedyoung beauty. Kabir Bedi and Nicholas Brown, who plays his son,are more comical than menacing, even with ear-slicings andrandom killings.

“Kites” is helped by sleek editing and the build-up ofthe pace toward the end. Still, director Anurag Basu showslittle of his lifelike touch displayed in other films,particularly “Life in a Metro.” Perhaps he was thrown out ofhis depth by the genre -- bordering on an improbable unionbetween a Western and a fantasy. While Basu knows a lot about Western cinema, what he does best is tell an Indian story.

Rakesh Roshan’s attempt to get his son’s entry into Hollywood via a global cast, American locales and a sleek pace,fails because of a simple flaw: It’s a poor copy.Western consumers want authentic Indian fare: hence thepopularity of chicken tikka masala or films such as “Lagaan.”

This is an age-old lesson Roshan failed to pick up fromduds going way back to “Shalimar” (1978), starring RexHarrison, Dharmendra and the hip Zeenat Aman, which tooattempted a Hollywood-Bollywood concoction. “Kites,” from Filmkraft Productions India, isdistributed worldwide by billionaire Anil Ambani’s Mumbai-based Reliance Big Pictures. This review is of the 130-minuteversion. “Kites: The Remix,” is due on May 28 edited down to 90 minutes by U.S. director Brett Ratner, with changed background music.

Information: http://www.kites-thefilm.com/
Rating: ** (Good)