Kites (film)
Encyclopedia
Kites is a 2010 Bollywood
film directed by Anurag Basu
and produced by Rakesh Roshan
, that stars Hrithik Roshan
, Bárbara Mori
, Kangana Ranaut, and Kabir Bedi
. The film was released in India and in North America on May 21, 2010. Its 208-theater opening in North America made it the largest Bollywood release there to that time. It was also the first Bollywood movie to reach the weekend top ten, though My Name is Khan
had a larger first-weekend North American gross. Despite a strong opening in India, it was eventually declared a flop.
), is a dance teacher in Las Vegas
, Nevada
. As a sideline, he marries immigrant women to get them green cards. When Gina (Kangana Ranaut), the rich daughter of a powerful casino owner Bob (Kabir Bedi
), falls for him, J goes along in order to marry into money. He discovers that his future brother-in-law, the vicious, homicidal Tony (Nick Brown), is about to marry a Mexican woman named Natasha (Bárbara Mori
), whom J knows as Linda, the last of the immigrant women he married. On the night before "Natasha" and Tony's wedding, Linda and J spend a romantic but chaste night, humorously agreeing to a "divorce." A jealous, gun-wielding Tony, however, arrives at her apartment while J is there, and after he hits her, Linda impulsively knocks him out with a heavy object while he tussles with J. Linda and J go on the run toward Mexico, with Tony and police in pursuit. They are helped by a friend of J, Robin (Anand Tiwari). Robin gives them fake passports and IDs so that they can go wherever they want. In the following week, J and Linda get married in Mexico
, and on the day of their wedding they come back to their house. There, Robin comes to give them the passports and is unexpectedly shot by Tony and his men. Linda and J escape, but J is shot in the process. In a car chase, Linda stops the car at a train, and puts J aboard it, and drives off. Back to the present, J meets with Jamaal, one of Bob's employees, and is ambushed. Jamaal is killed, but not before telling J of Linda's whereabouts. J kills off all of Tony's men, and then beats Tony by smashing his face into the car door, until he is shot by Gina. He drives off to the location where Jamaal said Linda was last seen. It is shown that after J was put aboard the train, Linda was ambushed on a cliff and sent J the text message saying "I'm going...Sorry, Forget me". She drives off of the cliff, killing herself by drowning. J cries, and then smiles, jumping off the cliff as well. Finally, he is reunited with Linda under the ocean, and they embrace through death.
, which features Hrithik Roshan
as its brand ambassador, launched a Kites clothing range. A photo shoot regarding this campaign was shot in the Maldives
featuring Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori.
In addition to its original subtitled version, Kites was scheduled to be released in a second international English version as Kites:The Remix
, "presented by" Brett Ratner
and recut by his regular editor, Mark Helfrich
, with new music by Graeme Revell
.
On its first weekend in the North America, the film opened in 208 theaters and ranked #10 in the box office, grossing $958,673. It was the first Bollywood movie to reach the weekend top ten, though My Name is Khan
had a larger first-weekend North American gross, with $1.9 million at 120 theaters, reaching #13. Kites debuted at #5 in the UK, with an opening of £274,000 from 70 screens. Overall the film was rated as a flop by Box Office India, and in media outlets.
, with the consensus being, "Thoroughly overwrought in true Bollywood fashion, Kites is deeply flawed —and too effervescently charming to resist." The movie generally received negative reviews in India. It rated 5/10 on the primarily Hindi film critics aggregate site ReviewGang. The chemistry of the lead actors and the cinematography were specifically praised by Indian critics Anupama Chopra and Raja Sen. Rajeev Masand
of IBN
said "Thrilling action set-pieces, a super-fluid dance number to show off Hrithik's killer moves, and repeated glimpses at the toned bodies of both lead stars. It's almost enough to forgive the uniformly bad acting of all supporting cast". Anupama Chopra
of NDTV
said "the film doesn’t become more than the sum of its parts because the second half is flat and in places, outright foolish". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated, "It fails in the primary promise of a love story which surpasses language barriers," while Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express calls it "really old wine in a sort-of new bottle".
In the U.S., Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
called it "a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism" that "caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy. It's all completely loony, but the stunts are impressive, the photography crisp and the leads so adorably besotted that audiences might as well check their cynicism at the door. Frank Lovece
of Film Journal International
said, "Bollywood enters telenovela
territory in a hybrid film that takes the heightened emotions, wild tonal ranges and impeccably crisp technique of modern Hindi cinema and puts all that in the service of a tragic love story straight out of Mexican TV. ... As an old-style Hollywood romance in modern dress, it delivers what people say they want when they say, 'They don't make pictures like that anymore.'" Kevin Thomas
of the Los Angeles Times
said the film "draws from westerns
, musicals, film noir
[and] chase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody — and it gets away with everything because of [director] Basu's visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy."
Won
Nominated
' original music is by Rajesh Roshan
and the lyrics are by Nasir Faraaz and Asif Ali Beg. Variety Magazine said the music "ranges from hip-hop to Enya
-esque ululating."
Kites: The Remix was almost completely re-scored with new music by Graeme Revell
.
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film directed by Anurag Basu
Anurag Basu
Anurag Basu is an Indian film director and writer, known for directing films that tackle the themes of dark passion and adultery like Life in a... Metro, Gangster and Murder. Basu was nominated in the Best Director category at the 53rd Filmfare Awards in 2008 for Life in a... Metro. He has also...
and produced by Rakesh Roshan
Rakesh Roshan
Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan (Hindi: राकेश रोशन (born Rakesh Roshan Lal Nagrath on 6 September 1949 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a producer, director and former actor in Bollywood films who was born in a Punjabi Hindu Kayastha family...
, that stars Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut...
, Bárbara Mori
Bárbara Mori
Bárbara Mori Ochoa is a Mexican actress and model. She became famous for being the female lead in the Bollywood film, Kites....
, Kangana Ranaut, and Kabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi is an Indian television and film actor. His career has spanned three continents including India, the United States and many European countries in three mediums: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story...
. The film was released in India and in North America on May 21, 2010. Its 208-theater opening in North America made it the largest Bollywood release there to that time. It was also the first Bollywood movie to reach the weekend top ten, though My Name is Khan
My Name is Khan
My Name Is Khan ; commonly referred to as MNIK, is a 2010 Bollywood film directed by Karan Johar, with a screenplay by Shibani Bathija, produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan, and starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, who reunite after nine years...
had a larger first-weekend North American gross. Despite a strong opening in India, it was eventually declared a flop.
Plot
J (Hrithik RoshanHrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut...
), is a dance teacher in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. As a sideline, he marries immigrant women to get them green cards. When Gina (Kangana Ranaut), the rich daughter of a powerful casino owner Bob (Kabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi is an Indian television and film actor. His career has spanned three continents including India, the United States and many European countries in three mediums: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story...
), falls for him, J goes along in order to marry into money. He discovers that his future brother-in-law, the vicious, homicidal Tony (Nick Brown), is about to marry a Mexican woman named Natasha (Bárbara Mori
Bárbara Mori
Bárbara Mori Ochoa is a Mexican actress and model. She became famous for being the female lead in the Bollywood film, Kites....
), whom J knows as Linda, the last of the immigrant women he married. On the night before "Natasha" and Tony's wedding, Linda and J spend a romantic but chaste night, humorously agreeing to a "divorce." A jealous, gun-wielding Tony, however, arrives at her apartment while J is there, and after he hits her, Linda impulsively knocks him out with a heavy object while he tussles with J. Linda and J go on the run toward Mexico, with Tony and police in pursuit. They are helped by a friend of J, Robin (Anand Tiwari). Robin gives them fake passports and IDs so that they can go wherever they want. In the following week, J and Linda get married in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and on the day of their wedding they come back to their house. There, Robin comes to give them the passports and is unexpectedly shot by Tony and his men. Linda and J escape, but J is shot in the process. In a car chase, Linda stops the car at a train, and puts J aboard it, and drives off. Back to the present, J meets with Jamaal, one of Bob's employees, and is ambushed. Jamaal is killed, but not before telling J of Linda's whereabouts. J kills off all of Tony's men, and then beats Tony by smashing his face into the car door, until he is shot by Gina. He drives off to the location where Jamaal said Linda was last seen. It is shown that after J was put aboard the train, Linda was ambushed on a cliff and sent J the text message saying "I'm going...Sorry, Forget me". She drives off of the cliff, killing herself by drowning. J cries, and then smiles, jumping off the cliff as well. Finally, he is reunited with Linda under the ocean, and they embrace through death.
Cast
- Hrithik RoshanHrithik RoshanHrithik Roshan is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut...
as J. - Bárbara MoriBárbara MoriBárbara Mori Ochoa is a Mexican actress and model. She became famous for being the female lead in the Bollywood film, Kites....
as Natasha/Linda - Nick Brown as Tony Grover
- Kangana Ranaut as Gina Grover
- Kabir BediKabir BediKabir Bedi is an Indian television and film actor. His career has spanned three continents including India, the United States and many European countries in three mediums: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story...
as Bob Grover - Anand Tiwari as Robin
- Yuri Suri as Jamaal
- Madhuri Bhatia as Gina's mom
Release
Kites was on 2000 screens in India, across 30 countries and 500 screens globally, according to distributor Reliance BIG Entertainment. It opened on 208 screens in North America, making it the largest Bollywood release there to that time.Promotion
To help the promote the film, mini "music videos" were released online, each about one minute long and featuring a song from the soundtrack set against scenes from the film. The clothing brand ProvogueProvogue
Provogue is a Mumbai based Indian company incorporated on November 11, 1997 as Acme Clothing Private Limited. The brand Provogue was launched in March 1998 and is currently one of the biggest retail apparel brands in India based in based Mumbai...
, which features Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films.After having appeared in films as a child actor in the 1980s, Roshan made his film debut in a leading role in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai for which Roshan earned his Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut...
as its brand ambassador, launched a Kites clothing range. A photo shoot regarding this campaign was shot in the Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
featuring Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori.
International versions
While the Hindi version of Kites was released May 21, 2010 in India, the international version was released one week later, on May 28, 2010. The film was scheduled to be released in over 60 countries.In addition to its original subtitled version, Kites was scheduled to be released in a second international English version as Kites:The Remix
Kites:The Remix
Kites: The Remix is the official English-language version of the 2010 film Kites. It was produced and edited by Hollywood director Brett Ratner. The international version is 90 minutes long, as opposed to the Hindi version Kites, which is 130 minutes long...
, "presented by" Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner is an American film director, film producer and music video director. He is best known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist. He was also a producer on the Fox drama series, Prison Break.- Early life :Ratner was...
and recut by his regular editor, Mark Helfrich
Mark Helfrich
Mark Helfrich is an ACE -certified film editor. He has edited over thirty films, such as the cult classic Showgirls with Mark Goldblatt...
, with new music by Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell is a New Zealand film score composer.Revell attended Auckland Grammar School, where he finished his final year in 7A...
.
Box office
Box Office India said the film "opened to a bumper response at most places" in India, but noted "reports are not encouraging, the biggest reason being the film has a lot of English and Spanish dialogue."On its first weekend in the North America, the film opened in 208 theaters and ranked #10 in the box office, grossing $958,673. It was the first Bollywood movie to reach the weekend top ten, though My Name is Khan
My Name is Khan
My Name Is Khan ; commonly referred to as MNIK, is a 2010 Bollywood film directed by Karan Johar, with a screenplay by Shibani Bathija, produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan, and starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, who reunite after nine years...
had a larger first-weekend North American gross, with $1.9 million at 120 theaters, reaching #13. Kites debuted at #5 in the UK, with an opening of £274,000 from 70 screens. Overall the film was rated as a flop by Box Office India, and in media outlets.
Critical reception
The film received an 82% positive rating on the film critics aggregate site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with the consensus being, "Thoroughly overwrought in true Bollywood fashion, Kites is deeply flawed —and too effervescently charming to resist." The movie generally received negative reviews in India. It rated 5/10 on the primarily Hindi film critics aggregate site ReviewGang. The chemistry of the lead actors and the cinematography were specifically praised by Indian critics Anupama Chopra and Raja Sen. Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and entertainment reporter for CNN-IBN. Masand started his career as an entertainment correspondent at the young age of 16...
of IBN
IBN
IBN or ibn may refer to:In general* ibn, patronymic in Arabic personal names * IBN code page , a Nordic language code page under MS-DOS...
said "Thrilling action set-pieces, a super-fluid dance number to show off Hrithik's killer moves, and repeated glimpses at the toned bodies of both lead stars. It's almost enough to forgive the uniformly bad acting of all supporting cast". Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra is a noted author, journalist and film critic. She has written several books on Indian cinema and has been a movie reviewer with NDTV and India Today.-Career:...
of NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
said "the film doesn’t become more than the sum of its parts because the second half is flat and in places, outright foolish". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated, "It fails in the primary promise of a love story which surpasses language barriers," while Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express calls it "really old wine in a sort-of new bottle".
In the U.S., Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it "a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism" that "caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy. It's all completely loony, but the stunts are impressive, the photography crisp and the leads so adorably besotted that audiences might as well check their cynicism at the door. Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece is an American journalist, author, comedy performer and comic book writer. He was additionally one of the first professional Web journalists, becoming an editor of a Silicon Alley start-up in 1996....
of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
said, "Bollywood enters telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
territory in a hybrid film that takes the heightened emotions, wild tonal ranges and impeccably crisp technique of modern Hindi cinema and puts all that in the service of a tragic love story straight out of Mexican TV. ... As an old-style Hollywood romance in modern dress, it delivers what people say they want when they say, 'They don't make pictures like that anymore.'" Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Marvin Kevin Thomas is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League. He was a standout high school football player at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California and a college football player at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said the film "draws from westerns
Western fiction
Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 1900s and Louis L'Amour from the mid 20th century...
, musicals, film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
[and] chase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody — and it gets away with everything because of [director] Basu's visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy."
Awards and nominations
2011 Zee Cine AwardsZee Cine Awards
The Zee Cine Awards or "ZCA" for short is an awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. It was first held in 1998 in Mumbai. Since then, it has gained substantial popularity as a notable awards ceremony to the Indian population as well as to the viewers of Zee Network.In 2004, the ZCA went...
Won
- Best CinematographyZee Cine Award for Best CinematographyThe Zee Cine Award Best Cinematography is a technical award.The winners are listed below:--External links:*...
- Ayananka Bose
Nominated
- Best Female Debut - Bárbara Mori
Music
KitesRajesh Roshan
Rajesh Roshan is a Hindi cinema music composer.-Personal life:Rajesh Roshan is the son of Hindi film composer Roshan and younger brother of film director and actor Rakesh Roshan...
and the lyrics are by Nasir Faraaz and Asif Ali Beg. Variety Magazine said the music "ranges from hip-hop to Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
-esque ululating."
Kites: The Remix was almost completely re-scored with new music by Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell is a New Zealand film score composer.Revell attended Auckland Grammar School, where he finished his final year in 7A...
.