Kites

Director Anurag Basu’s “Kites” was released in India on May 21, 2010, followed by a remix version, “Kites: The Remix,” for the U.S. on May 28, 2010. The U.S. version was presented by director Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”) with a shorter running time of ninety-three minutes. Image Entertainment’s Blu-ray release of “Kites” includes both versions of the film. Through the efforts of a big Bollywood studio, Big Reliance India, “Kites” was the first Bollywood movie to appear in the American box-office top ten. Apart from appearing in the top ten, the film--produced for a budget of $13,000,000--tanked at the box office.  Indian moviegoers reacted negatively to the abundance of multiple languages in the film, whereas the film failed to excite the Western audiences.

“Kites” opens up with a brief narration that signifies a metaphor associated with the kites. The kite’s life depends on its pilot and the pilot’s maneuvering skills. It’s a delicate balance to maintain against all odds. Nonetheless, the poetic opening of the film dies down quickly, and you are left to wonder about the significance of kites to the movie’s story. Maybe the film’s characters symbolize the free-flying, carefree birds that cannot be bounded by a thread.  But considering the inadequate details on the characters, coupled with the sloppy writing, “Kites” loses its metaphorical meaning in a heartbeat.

The opening of the film takes us to a dusty landscape, where we meet, J (Hrithik Roshan), in a badly bruised condition. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that J lived his life in Las Vegas as a hustler. He is engaged to a millionaire’s daughter, but soon he falls in love with a Mexican girl, Natasha (Barbara Mori), who is engaged to a trigger-happy gangster, Tony (Nicholas Brown). Things to wrong for J and Natasha, and both try to escape from Las Vegas. Along the way, they rob a bank, and soon they are chased by the state police. They drift into Mexico, where Natasha and J get married. Tony traces their whereabouts and brings his whole gang to hunt them down.

With a messy story line, “Kites” feels like a Bollywood version of Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise,”  and this is not meant as a compliment. The second half is filled with car chases, robberies, and grand panoramic views that go nowhere. The moment Natasha and J escape, the film tries to entertain with its slick-done car chases. I like escapist entertainment, but if filmmakers resort to chases and action only, then the entertainment value is greatly diminished.  The problem lies in the poorly developed characters. We clearly don’t know who J is and how Natasha arrived in Las Vegas, and got engaged to Tony. Not only this, we never get a clear picture of Natasha’s background, apart from a minor detail about her siblings. Not for a moment do you see the characters sitting down and mulling over the entire situation or having emotional or touching moments together. As such, “Kites” sorely banks on the glitz and glamour of its two leads: Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori.

The physical chemistry between Roshan and Mori is pretty effective, but the emotional compatibility is nonexistent. Indeed, at times their mutual exchanges feel forced. Mori’s character communicates in Spanish and broken English, and J tries to make sense of what she is saying. Cutesy as it might sound, Roshan’s character is certainly annoying when he is trying to decipher Spanish, and it only gets under your skin after a while. Obviously, you see a communication breakdown on numerous occasions, and it only slows down the film’s pace. On the other hand, Mori is beautiful and instantly likeable and packs enough charm to enthrall the audience.

In both versions of the film, you see the Indian characters speak English, Hindi, and Spanish in one dialogue. The dialogue starts with Hindi, quickly changes to English and then Spanish, as a character communicate with Hispanics. The mixture of Hindi and English is now omnipresent in urban Bollywood movies.  But, I can see how the rapid transition from one language to the other can confound viewers, especially a rural Indian audience. Nonetheless, the filmmaker’s reasoning of introducing Spanish through the Indian characters confused me a lot. Not that it is a misfire, but it leaves us with a lot of questions. I don’t know if it is a commentary on the state of people migrating across countries, or if the filmmakers are saying that Indians and Mexicans are interchangeable. It’s a fairly sensitive racial framework to incorporate that is based on the color of the skin.

Lengthwise, the Hollywood version of “Kites” is shorter by thirty-one minutes as compared to the Bollywood version. The Hollywood version drops the subplot of romance involving J and Tony’s sister. In addition, the version also omits certain sequences between J and Natasha that slow down the pace in the Bollywood version. Also, the main song is edited out from the Hollywood version.

Despite the negatives, “Kites” features brilliantly produced car chases that remind us what Bollywood can achieve. The film also sparkles in the cinematography department, where we see beautiful vistas of Mexico and Las Vegas. The camera work is fairly stable, even when shooting rapid action sequences. While the film succeeds a bit in the technical department, its abysmal approach fails to develop a meaningful story with interesting characters. As a result, “Kites” is an abject failure.

Video:

“Kites” is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and encoded in an MPEG-4/AVC format. The 1080p transfer is marred by excessive DNR. The grain is completely removed, and the transfer looks overly digitized. The close-ups lack detail and consistency. Even the flesh tones appear waxy and washed out on several occasions. Unlike other Bollywood movies, the color scheme of “Kites” is relatively subdued. However, colors do pop out and are deep and solid throughout. In the end, the transfer is over-scrubbed, and this might be a big concern for some viewers.

Audio:

No surprises here, as we get a DTS-HD Master Audio track. The dialogue is clear and crisp, and the rear channels comes to life in the song-and-action sequences. However, I felt the track was not well-balanced. You have moments when the track works well, especially in the nonaction sequences, but when you have songs or action, the track’s volume jumps disproportionately. It seems like the songs and the action scenes were sampled at a higher volume. The movie can also be viewed with English subtitles.

Extras:

There are no bonus features included for this release.

Parting Thoughts:

Operating with the love-has-no-borderlines theme, “Kites” fails to ignite anything substantial with its supposedly passionate love story. Even the presence of a charismatic actor, Hrithik Roshan, and a glamorous Barbara Mori, cannot lift the story. With a botchy script and underdeveloped characters, “Kites” is a forgettable flick. Unfortunately, my friend is correct in saying, “Kites” never flies.