Random Musings

Can somebody help me here? I was never good at history. Are more wars fought over a “woman” than over any other issue? Yes, other issues on which wars could be fought are water, oil, territory, religion, etc. But more lives have been lost in wars and fights over women, I’d believe, than over anything else.

That being a fact, the basic storyline of Kites, the latest from Filmkraft, is not off the mark.

Normally I would have seen a big release of this kind on the Friday or the Saturday, of the release week. But as we had tickets to a fund raiser program, we were scheduled to see it on the morning of Sunday. And that unfortunately, was enough time, for a whole lot of reviews to come out. The “official” ones in media, and the many unofficial ones on Twitter and Facebook. And where I was already a little skeptical about someone like Anurag Basu (who has earlier directed films of a completely different genre, like Murder, Gangster, Life in a Metro, etc.) being able to pull off a cross-over international feel project like this, these early reviews had convinced me that this was going to be a disaster.

With low expectations I went and saw the film. And right through the first half, I was waiting to see the film drop off into randomness or boredom, as people had made me believe it would. But that never happened.

The film kept me engrossed right through.

The theme was simple enough. War fought over a girl. Which includes, as you’d imagine, romance, revenge, violence, etc. That part is simple and straight forward.

But what makes this a good film overall:

– the flow is smooth; going back and forth into flashbacks and now, is handled well

– the screen looks good all through. The sets, the locales in Vegas, Mexico etc. are good to see. The camera work is splendid. The colors are captured well.

– Barbara, though not exactly stunning, fits the role of the Latina beauty well. She emotes well, has a nice smile, and shows good chemistry with Hrithik.

– the length of the film is just right. There is no temptation to make it a typically longdrawn Bollywood style saga. At the current length of a little over 2 hours, it is taut enough to keep you interested.

A few questions remain, though:

– Anurag’s muse from his earlier films, Kangana Ranaut, could have been given some more space. I believe she’s one of the most underrated actresses on Indian screen. I loved her work in Fashion and in Life in a Metro. She’s wasted here.

– One miss: when Hrithik is unloading one car after another, in a moving truck carrying those vehicles, does the driver of the truck not realize anything afoot? Does the load not appear to get lesser suddenly? Don’t they have anything like a rear view mirror?? There’s mayhem going on behind them, with one car rolling off after another. And he drives merrily away??!

– And where does Kabir Bedi disappear at the end? Does he too not come fuming after these guys? Anurag does remeber to bring in Kangana for a fleeting moment at the end. Why not Kabir too?

But these few factors apart, I think its a good film. And the one big reason – obviously – for this is called “Hrithik Roshan”.

So I believe Hrithik can’t sing?! Or can he?

Because it appears that he can pretty much do EVERYTHING ELSE.

He looks good, he’s an amazing actor, and he dances like no one else can, on Indian screen at this time. He can certainly carry the entire film on his broad shoulders.

Kites is a good attempt to make an Indian film with very little India in it. Its good a good Hollywood-esque feel to it.

So why did the critics run it down so much? I really don’t know. Maybe it was a fundamental expectation mismatch. This is not Hrithik’s best. It is not the best to come from the Rakesh Roshan stable. But it is good. Worth a watch.

That said, would request Rakesh Roshan to return to directing Hrithik, for their home productions. PLEASE!!