Film Impressions

REVIEW: KITES (3)

KATI PATANG

Unabashed romance. That's what Bollywood dreams are built on. It's the gaze, the wooing, the sweeping the girl off her feet that every woman in the audience wants to see. When the hero runs towards the heroine our collective hearts anticipate everything from her surrender in his arms to another verbal banter. He would be the best boy at school and college. He would dance like a dream. And he would have to win the hearts of the family as well. If the heroine is shown to be interested in another man, or simply unaware of his interest in her, we would be on his side, fingers crossed ready to offer our shoulders when he sings, 'kaise batayein...tu jaane naa!' As an audience we are willing to be manipulated any which way by the story take us. So stepping into Hrithik Roshan's Kites was easy. I knew there would be romance coming out my ears...

Pure Dhishoom dhishoom. The hero may or may not sing and dance around the trees, but he would have to smolder in love. There would be baddies to beat and if the hero starts out as a goonda, we even watch as long as he uses his muscle to win the heroine. We want the hero to shed blood, scoop her up in his manly arms and ride away with her into the sunset. So stepping into Kites was easy. Hrithik in Dhoom could ride away with the gal on the mo'bike and ooh, he has muscles...

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. 

REVIEW: Kites

FLYING LOW

A post-Kites observation -- Bollywood technicians are far superior to its actors, and actors are far superior to its writers and directors.

A question: Exactly who is Kites for? A large chunk of the film is in English and Spanish, the Spanish bits have English subtitles, so that leaves out many Indian viewers. If it is meant for an international 'crossover' audience, then why would they want to see their own locations and style with a stale story packaged and offered to them, with just a bit of Bollywood garnish?