Kites Movie Review

Kites is one of those films we have all been waiting to watch from a very long time, the level of expectation was unbelievably high. Apart from the fact that Kites was promoted as one of the first films to truly crossover to the international audience, the film was also Hrithik Roshan’s first in over two long years (his last release was Jodha Akbar in February 2008). Directed by Anurag Basu (Gangster, Murder) and produced by Rakesh Roshan, who knows the pulse of the Indian audience like no other, Kites is ‘THE’ biggest release of the year. Does it fly? Does it soar? Read on..

The film is about J (Hrithik Roshan) and Natasha (Barbara Mori). J is a crook, who marries girls to get them green cards and Linda a.k.a Natasha is one of them. The next time they meet Natasha is engaged to Tony (Nick Brown), while J is all set to marry Tony’s sister Gena (Kangna Ranaut). All hell breaks loose when J and Natasha fall in love. Will love survive? Can J and Natasha overcome all odds? Watch Kties to find out.

Kites Review

Kites – Positives

  • Kites is different, its not your regular Bollywood film. There are no conventional song and dance numbers, the leading lady from Mexico doesn’t have a proper line in Hindi and the treatment is completely different from anything that you have ever seen before . Purely for the effort and the courage to take on something as risky as this, the makers deserve a pat on their backs.
  • The film starts off well and the first half was pretty good. The ‘Fire’ song is mind-boggling. Fantastic choreography and the song perfectly showcases the unrealistic dancing skills of  Hrithik.
  • The performances by the lead actors is top-notch. The chemistry they share is nice.
  • The cinematography by Ayananka Bose  is brilliant. The action sequences have been extremely well choreographed and performed.

Kites  - Negatives

  • Although 3 writers - Akash Khurana, Anurag Basu, Robin Bhatt – have been credited for the story of Kites, the film has no story. Absolutely no twists nor turns due to which the film suffers from being highly predictable.
  • Hindi is the least used language in Kites. Most of the dialogues are in English and the rest in Spanish (with English subtitles). This, personally, didn’t make much sense. Its a Hindi film production after all. Imagine watching a Hollywood movie with mostly Hindi dialogues?
  • It looked like a conscious effort, on part of the makers, to make the film appeal to the international audience while at the same time having enough in it to keep the Indian audience hooked (read action sequences in the second half). Result? Neither here nor there.
  • Also you never feel the hero is challenged, whatever he does, just simply works in his favour. And since the negative character is poorly written, the thrill of a chase film is completely missing.

Performances

  • Hrithik Roshan is mind-blowing, a terrific performance that may not get the praise it deserves. He gets every expressions right and when on screen its hard to take your eyes off him.
  • Barbara Mori looks beautiful and acts reasonably well.
  • Nicholas Brown as the villian is good.
  • Kangna Ranaut is wasted. The rest have nothing much to do.

Overall, the intentions were honest, the effort that has gone into the making of the film very evident in every frame, but sadly the results – not quite upto the mark. Don’t get me wrong, Kites isn’t a bad film. It certainly has its moments, but not enough to deserve the price of your ticket unless of course, your a Hrithik Roshan fan. If you are, don’t think twice, go watch it. He’s fabulous!

At the box office, the opening weekend numbers should be record-breaking due to Hrithik’s presence, but the fall is inevitable. Collections should drop drastically from Monday.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ For Hrithik’s performance and the makers for having the audacity to attempt something so different, when the safer path was much easier to walk on.

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21 Comments

  • indicine as reports are not pleasing and therfore according to your prediction and the initial reports its looking like it will have same faith as housefull and MNIK .

    same 30-35cr weeken

    45cr-47cr week

    and 70-80cr lifetime.

  • JUST CAME HOME AFTER WATCHING KITES….

    AND I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THE INDICINE REVIEW.

    1st the positives-

    Kites is not any regular bollywood film. It has a different flavor. A slight international touch is there. Dialogues are mostly in English and Spanish. Just a few lines in hindi. But unlike indicine team said I saw hindi subtitles.
    According to me the 1st half was a little bit slow but since it’s only a 130 min film it’s not that dragging. But the 2nd half picked up pace. There were a lot of chase sequences which were shot quite well. And after a long time we see hrithik dancing. And he is just awesome. Barbara was beautiful and acted well. And the ending was very much unexpected.

    2ndly the drawbacks –

    The film lacks that x-factor which could have made you fall in love with the movie.
    There was no storyline. The villain was not quite villainous (lol). And as indicine said kangna was wasted. And kabir bedi too. They should have given more screen space.

    Verdict-

    Since my expectations were very high I was slightly disappointed. So don’t expect too much. And if u are a hrithik fan watch it in the theatres else you could just wait for the DVD.

    So I would give it 3/5 just as indicine.

  • just wanna add another thing.

    didnt liked the fire song. and the title track too. zindagi and dil kyun yeh mera were the best.

  • i just want to ask somethings to indicine….

    in the fire song was it hrithik himself who hid all those dancing moves or a body double was used for few steps?

  • Jab do patang ek sath bahut der tak hawa me udte hai to unme se ek ko kut ke girna padta hai…
    if you are fed up by crap bollywood movies???if you want to feel the love.. If you like something hatke then go for kites???
    i cant say kites is awesome movie but yes movie is good and has a very beautiful love story, it is not different from other crap bollywood movies but treatment is totally different..movie is very slow in first half…unlike others I like climex..one more thing too much Spanish irritate sometimes..
    Hrithik & Barbara are fabulous and their chemistry is just mindblowing,anurag basu direction is also very good..
    background music is awesome & song are also good,Choreography of Fire song is just amazing..
    I’m sure Kites will fly in the sky..
    3.5 / 5

  • Kites is a rubish m0vie. MNIK is much better than KITES. Kites is a english p0rn film. Best m0vie 0f 2010
    1) MY NAME IS KHAN
    2) H0USE FULL
    3) BADMASH C0MPANY
    4) ISHQIA
    5) ATITHI T0M KABH JA0 GE

  • Helli Indicine… Hope you all are fine….
    I am new to this forum, although I have been accessing this website for movie reviews for a long time.
    I had some questions for you that’s why I thought of writing to you.
    Could you please tell me about the movie “Kismat Talkies” starring Hrithik, Priyanka, Kareena.
    I never found much details about that other then the release date, i.e. in 2007.
    Does this movie really exist?
    Hope to read from you soon.

    Regards

    • Hi Zialari, welcome :)

      Kismat Talkies was shelved in 2007 itself. Zoya Akhtar was to direct the film produced under Farhan Akhtar’s banner, Hrithik and Kareena were paired together. Things didn’t work out (date and script issues) and the film was subsequently shelved. Zoya then went on to direct Luck By Chance.

  • to fathya
    nasserdine shah plays the role of a Common Man/The Anonymous Caller at the end
    he reveals that he is just a “stupid common man”, not belonging to any terrorist outfit, and his plan was not to free the terrorists but to kill them, avenging all the terrorist attacks they had helped carry out in Mumbai and other major cities of India, specifically for the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, thus “cleansing the roach-infested house”. Rathod tries to reason with him but then the caller threatens to blow up the remaining bombs across the city unless Arif and Jai kill Ibrahim Khan

    youssef: (June 2, 2010 at 7:53 am)
    no fathya i m not wasting my time but iam trying my best to convince megha that she is totally wrong about my name is khan that s all and concerning the˛ revenues it snot the revenues which make amovie goood or not but t˛he content acting and messsage if so avatar would have eclipsed hurt locker in the oscars and take it from me lesson
    immanuel kant says once art for art if art seeks materialism it wiil succumb that’s my motto in art

  • your three star rated movie has flopped dear indicine what do u have to say now . see your ratings dont matter at all people like me judge the film rightly and decide its fatte ..if the fikmmakers were to call me for a review of their film i would be able to tell them right there whether their film would flop or not … thats how good my cinematic sense is..!!!

  • I have had to come out of retirement because I am absolutely appalled at how people and especially the bollywood media have reacted towards Kites.
    I am sure my beloved friend, and mentor, the late DR R C Patel would absolutely agree with me when I say that Kites is a masterpiece!!

    Short, simple, yet fast paced, Kites carries a very deep and intrinsic message – what true love is all about. True love is not hindered by barriers of language. True love makes you forget all your worldly wants and desires. True love can blossom deeply even when times spent with each other is very short. And finally, true love overcomes all fears, including the fear of death.

    What a beautiful concept! I feel Indicine should have given this film 5 stars instead of 3. People these days are so fickle. They don’t know anything about true love and just concentrate on sex and lust. So how can they appreciate a magical story??!
    It was important not to have much Hindi in the film because a central concept of the film is that true love is not hindered by the barrier of language.

    I would appeal to one and all to go watch Kites again. this time, keep your eyes glued to the screen and don’t bother about the subtitles. I guarantee your hearts will melt and you will have lumps in your throats as the film progresses towards its tragic finale.

    Anurag Basu has done a magnificent job. Hrithik and Barbara are both superb. And the pathos of their sizzling connection is dazzling.

    In my opinion, Jay-Linda is now part of the illustrious list of classic and tragic love pairs, including Heer-Ranja, Shirin-Farhad, Sohni-Mahiwal and Laila-Majnu.

    Lastly, shame on the Bollywood media for poking so much fun. By doing so they are showing their own ignorance in recognizing quality cinema. Also, shame on all my Indian brothers and sisters, who are always yapping about the need for quality cinema and yet went and made Houseful a blockbuster and Kites a flop. This is really ridiculous!
    And I pray to Almighty God to restore amongst you all the good sense to support and encourage unique ventures such as Kites.

    I take your leave now in a state of due indignation.

  • yes we will support you if u will support us inshowing this love to tten patti ..aladdin..and rgv ke sholay too. after all they too are made by your bollywood brothers ..also not to forget the greatest war masterpiece veer and the thoughtful my name is khan .please show respect to these floppies also

  • Kites is one of the most heart touching movies.the stupid people made it flop and made houseful a blockbuster.same on Bollywood and the people.I wish these type of films should be regularly made.but these days movies r just shit.

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