An action filled romantic thriller starring the brilliant Hrithik Roshan and the sizzling Bárbara Mori was always expected to send the hype racing. The Chemistry between the two actors was talked about in international circles but fell flat for the Bollywood crowd. So what was it that generated so much mixed reviews for this ‘crossover’ movie?
Kites is a perfect example of a crossover movie. Everything about the movie was designed to merge cultures, the lead actors were from India and Mexico, the languages used in the movie was Hindi, English and Spanish… The music had a distinct international touch, hell even the lyrics of the songs were written in Hindi, English and Spanish! But what made this movie a truly crossover film is the writing, as an avid follower of Hollywood and Bollywood cultures, Kites hit me as the almost perfect child of the two. You have the thrill, action and pace of western cinema and you also have the emotional touch, romance and ideology that rule Indian cinema.
There are moments in Kites that make you go ‘wow’ and similarly there are moments where you wonder what the writer was smoking, but thats where the balance was struck. If the director had spent too long tying the loose ends(which was very much possible) it would have increased the length of the film and that was probably in the mind of the editors.
There is amazing depth in the writing that isn’t always clear… Like the reference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was probably the writers own dedication to the classic. The last scene of the movie is also brilliantly done with reference to the story of the movie. It is this subtlety that makes Kites special.
Kites’ lifeline is the amazing chemistry between its lead actors. There are decisions made in the movie by the leading pair which was not very smart but its the chemistry that puts a cloak of validity to those choices. The lead actors on screen presence is overwhelming at times adding the subtle flavor of romance that makes this movie delicious.
Acting wise Hrithik who plays J is prefect playing his strengths. The character is well bought out and he does a great job giving it the depth it requires to work. Barbara is very balanced in her performance and her inability to speak anything other than Spanish works well. She was basically required to be charming in the ‘princess to be rescued’ sort of way and she fit the part perfectly. The supporting actors are well cast but seemed like the casting was meant to be very obvious.
Kites is truly unique in what it tried to achieve and for that the writers & director must be commended. They could have taken the movie in atypical Bollywood fashion but they dared to bend the rules and that must be truly understood. Kites also tried very hard to retain the bollywood style of film making that the west likes and in that attempt have probably lost out on the Indian audience.
All in all Kites is groundbreaking cinema. Its an honest attempt in the right direction and I would love to see more movies come from India similarly.