Sizzling Heroin, Muscular Hero, Psychotic Vamp, Idiotic Villian, Scenic Setting, Frantic Chases, Brooding Romance, A Tragic End, Eternal Love - Ingredients of a Potential Blockbuster. But sometimes the sum of parts is not the whole. Because it depends on the cook, how much a particular spice should be added. This one has one too many slow motion set pieces, tight frames with a crazy background than can be digested. Its like attempting to make Tortilla and ending up with an Enchilada!
Kites, an ambitious project set in and around the border of Mexico and US, is a love story of 2 people who do not know each others languages. They meet out of need, get seperated and when they meet again, they dont want to seperate all over again. So, there's Hritik who forces himself to marry the Psychotic Kangana for her money and there's Barbara who for the same reason wants to marry the Idiotic Villian. Suddenly, out of no where Love appears in their hearts and they decide it's time to make a run for it. But Crazy Vamp and Idiotic Villian want revenge. So, starts a never ending sequence of chases intertwined with slow motion romance sequences.
The film has its plus points. First of all, its not too long, even though it feels long. Next, it has some amazing Cinematography, excellent production value and decent screenplay for the weak script. Also, it is a brave attempt of making an international film as its got a mix of spanish, english and hindi dialogues (characters dont speak hindi just for the heck of it!!) It would be a good idea though, to dub it in Hindi and release it in B and C centers. Also, the Director Basu, has some flair in terms of shooting sequences and his style leaves a mark.
But this is where the GOOD-buck stops!!! The problem with the movie is the weak script. The romance between the 2 main characters never achieves depth. They say "I love you" , but you never feel it. You see Hritik pining for her, but why you never understand. Anyways, maybe that's love - complicated ! Then there is the problem of some horrendous background score. When you have a movie so heavily dependent on background score, you need something operatic, magnificient. Though the attempt is brave, its weak. Most of all, the script is extremely weak.
Pages of the screenplay document seem to have been misplaced, thus resulting in converting half the scenes into SLOW MOTION pans! The first half is filled with THINGS UNSAID, LONG STARES, A SPANISH GUITAR playing in the background and you trying to plan what to eat next ! The second half is full of Chases and you laughing your guts out at some woefully shallow romantic sequences. Also, you wonder why Hritik, a U.S. citizen keeps fluctuating between an American and an Indian English accent? Our SuperStars really need to start getting into the skin of the character more and leave their own persona behind.
Overall, Hritik has done a good job in the film, while Barbara looks good, pouts and emotes decently. If you survive the film, you might take back a few good moments, but that is if you do not leave in the first half. I would say its a decent attempt at giving India a different kind of a love story. Anurag Basu, tried to create a Romantic Painting, but it ended up being a romantic PAIN thing ! Save your money for better fares coming up in the coming weeks, unless you are a Hritik fan. After all one of the films songs itselff preaches "Zindagi - Do pal ki" - why waste it !!! Pardon my Spanish - this one's POUR fa BORE !
Rating: 4.5 / 10
RSS Feed
