REVIEW: Kites

IN NOWHERE LAND

Hindi cinema doesn't speak to Indian audiences anymore. At least not mainstream, big-budget, star-studded Bollywood fare, shot in glittering foreign lands and made for the urban elite (still shockingly small in percentages, while India's supposedly shining) and to NRI pockets around the world. That's where the big-ticket money comes from. And that's the audience that apparently doesn't mind watching good-looking stars draped in designer costumes dancing in fancy locales. Film after film has flaky stories, shallow characters, lack of coherence in script and cinematic techniques and an absolute disconnect from reality. That's entertainment. Filmmakers spend crores of rupees on producing these pictures and audiences readily throw a few hundred rupees each weekend to watch them. 

Yet, over 70% of Indians live in rural areas, at least a quarter of the country's population is below the poverty line, and even basic amenities such as water, healthcare and education are beyond the reach of millions. There are realities here that may not be pleasant -- social, cultural, economic and political issues of grave concern to the lives of Indians -- but which, scarily, our popular media seems determined to obliterate. 

Anurag Basu's Kites is a classical representation of this malaise. The film is shot in Las Vegas and Mexico. The heroine is Spanish and barring a few lines of broken English, all her dialogues are sub-titled in English (a language vast majority of Indians cannot read or speak). The hero has no background to place his lineage in perspective, lives in Las Vegas, hustles for a living and his only ambition in life is to get rich quick (this seems to be the most distinctive quality of the modern Bollywood hero). The villain's father owns a large casino in Vegas, which gives him the license to beat up people at will and be abusive and abrasive. The filmmaker sets up high-octane chase sequences on American highways, blows up dozens of cars, gives us a glossy ride through Vegas and Nevada's picturesque landscape and finishes with a Spanish wedding in a Mexican village. 

Through it all, we feel nothing for either protagonist. We don't relate to their experiences or enjoy their adventures. There's no element of surprise or gratification. We simply go along because we're there, and Hrithik Roshan looks handsome even in a bad film, and Rajesh Roshan puts together a couple of hummable melodies and Ayananka Bose is a fantastic cinematographer who can make just about any shot beautiful. We quickly forget that Anurag Basu made a couple of decent films (Gangster, Life In a Metro), because those were evidently stepping stones to Kites. We can no longer relate to the Hrithik Roshan who endeared us with his earnest performance in Koi Mil Gaya because he now wants to launch himself as an international star and woo Hollywood directors.

Kites is a nowhere film -- neither Indian nor international, neither love story nor thriller. It reaches for the sky and falls flat on its face. The only mercy -- there's no mention of traditional Indian values and karva chauth in Mexico. 

And did I mention Hrithik Roshan looks good??

Comments

[Zee@ye]

The films is all looks no substance. For some reason I felt this was an international version of 'DAUD' - Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar with tweaks.

Definitely the Wind died down on Kites ;)