Kites starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, and Kabir Bed released today, 21 May 2010.

The film is not to be screened in Karnataka, the state’s film association has said.

Bollywood film ‘Kites’ has been directed by Anurag Basu, and produced by Hrithik Roshan’s father Rakesh Roshan.

Kites music has been composed by Rajesh Roshan and the lyrics are by Nasir Faraaz and Asif Ali Beg.

The film will release on 2300 screens worldwide which is a record for any Indian film.

REVIEWS

Director: Anurag Basu Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Babara Mori, Kangna Ranuat and Kabir Bedi Release Date: 2010-05-21 00:00:00 Quick Take: Hrithik and Barbara’s chemistry soars like a kite
Kites may vaguely remind you of Woody Allen’s deeply disturbing Matchpoint, the movie really isn’t anything like it. Kites seems like the perfect blockbuster on paper. Two breathtakingly beautiful actors, great locales, lots of action, generous doses of action and plenty of romance. Also, if one of the beautiful actors happen to be Hrithik Roshan then you can expect a great show of impossibly perfect abs and pecs and some jaw-dropping dance moves. Here’s the good news-you get all of this. In good measure. You get Hrithik in all his glory, you get a phirang actress with the killer smile and did we not mention this before, figure? You get some effortlessly crafted romantic scenes searing with chemistry between the lead actors and action sequences executed with perfection.
The problem with Kites lies in its personality. It’s an intense love story but its also an action film or a chase film or a revenge film or a…. you get the drift. Now this really isn’t a problem unless it becomes one. The movie cant really make up its mind about what it wants to be and this is a bit of a snag.. We want to feel for J and Linda and their star-crossed love story, we desperately want to feel their desperation and their overwhelming sense of panic, love and struggle for survival. We almost do but there it stops short.
Anurag Basu who has given us pretty decent cinema in the past like Gangster and Life In A Metro does a great job of giving the film the ‘international feel’ it needs in terms of how it looks and sounds. Yet the narrative seems a tad outdated. And the story like the protoganists’ lives isn’t really going anywhere.
If this is a film meant to showcase the magic that is Hrithik Roshan to the western audience and film industry then it’s a damn good job. Anything we think Hrithik can do, he does better. Barbara Mori has crackling spontaneity and a bewitching screen presence. The talented Kangna Ranaut is utterly wasted in an insignificant role and the three scenes she has reminds you distinctly of her roles in Gangster and Fashion.
Kites is an engaging one time watch but it leaves you wanting more-that little extra something that you take home. In this case you still get to take home the blindingly sexy visual of Hrithik Roshan’s bare chest and that isn’t a bad deal at all now, is it?
Sukanya Venkatraghavan

INTERVIEWS

Hrithik Roshan talks about Kites and all that went into making it

So what’s your take on Kites? It’s two and a half years of my heart and soul. Right from the beginning, I knew the film had a destiny. Actually, when I heard the story from dad I wasn’t so sure. Then he said, ‘I’ve hired Anurag Basu. I’m sure he can do something special with it. Let him work on it and then you can hear it again.’ It was my fourth month on crutches when I heard the script. My knee was really bad. I had travelled from Singapore to Finland to LA. And the doctors had said that I couldn’t possibly do the kind of stuff I was doing – dancing, jumping — for another year or two. I was completely heart-broken. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do what I wanted and still be an actor seemed like a compromise to me. Maybe my career as an actor was over. So I contemplated moving on. Maybe become a singer... I was looking for signs, something to tell me that I would be okay. I was trying all kinds of therapies, from all over the world. I would work on my knee for three hours. That’s when I heard the script. And Anurag’s vision was so strong I saw myself in the film. And I saw the entire film play out in my head. The vision was so strong that I knew the movie had a destiny. If someone has visualised me in the film then it would happen. It was the sign I was looking for. There was adrenalin flowing throwing my veins. I jumped with joy. And everyone was stunned to see my reaction. They were like, what’s wrong with him? Kites was in the making for two years... No, it took just six months to shoot the film. It seems long because of the English version. The team thought we should take the film to the studios. So we went to Cannes and LA. Brett Ratner was invited to one of the previews. Dad called me and said, ‘Yeh koi Brett Ratner hai, bol raha hai ki he loved the film and wants to work on it. He doesn’t want us to sell the film yet. He wants to cut the film, he wants to edit what he thinks will not work in the West.’ I exclaimed, ‘Brett Ratner! Papa he’s one of the biggest names there.’ He said, ‘What should we do?’ I was like, ‘Give it to him. But how much will he charge us?’ He said, ‘Nothing. He doesn’t want anything.’ So Brett Ratner, one of the most techno-savvy filmmakers in Hollywood, took out four months to work on Kites. He’s done the background music, the mixing, dubbing everything out there. It’s a Brett Ratner presentation. He’s not getting anything out of it, he just did it because of his passion for movies, because he loved Barbara (Mori) and me in the movie. I’m still asking what the catch is. It’s incredible. It’s like dad and me taking time out to do a film for some random guy in Lucknow. Who does that? So that’s why it’s taken us time. Dad didn’t want to release the Indian version first and then the English version. He wanted to release them simultaneously. So we had to wait for Brett Ratner’s cut. Anuradha Choudhary

GOSSIP

Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and Kate Hudson preview Kites

We know know that Brett Ratner (in the picture with Hrithik) has worked heavily on editing and background score of the English version of Kites (read Kites is truly international). Now we hear that Rakesh Roshan is having a special trial for Brett Ratner as he is really impressed with all that he has done for the film. Ratner is friends with biggies like Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Kate Hudson who he has invited for his private screening of Kites. Lets hope this is the international push Hrithik Roshan was looking for.

'Kites' grosses over Rs. 21 crores on opening day

Becomes second highest opening-day grosser after '3 Idiots'

Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer 'Kites' grossed over Rs.21 crore on its opening day and has become the second highest opening-day grosser after '3 Idiots', its distributor said Saturday. 'Kites' released with 2,000 screens in India and across 500 screens overseas on May 21. The film that has been distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures is a love story between an Indian guy and a Spanish girl. Directed by Anurag Basu, the film has been produced by Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan. The movie has also caught the fancy of the American media, making it perhaps the most reviewed Bollywood film on opening day by so many US critics. The New York Times considered it "all completely loony, but the stunts are impressive, the photography crisp and the leads so adorably besotted that audiences might as well check their cynicism at the door." "A lovers on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism. Directed by Anurag Basu with a finger in every genre jar, 'Kites' caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy," it said. In Times' view Bollywood star "Roshan requires viewing uncut: writhing on the dance floor or just gazing into space, the man was made to drive women crazy, one movie at a time." Calling it "A romantic adventure!", Los Angeles Times noted "the love story draws from westerns, musicals, film noir, chase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody - and it gets away with everything because of Basu's visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy." While the movie was seen as "An exhilarating escapist entertainment that plays out like a violent and floridly poetic allegory," the two top stars got noticed for their looks. "Mori has a sultry gorgeousness that at times recalls Ava Gardner. Roshan has the dashing, chiselled looks of a silent movie matinee idol." To the New York Daily News it was "An engaging Bollywood tale! Melodrama, romance and action are cheerfully jumbled together ." "You'll get more than your money's worth," said Newsday describing it as "A boldly old-fashioned, I'll-die-without-you, nobly self-sacrificing movie romance. Gogeously photographed. The story is the stuff Old Hollywood tear-jerkers are made of." Variety magazine found it "Deliriously entertaining!" The film, it said, "owes more to Hollywood than Bollywood, though director Anurag Basu borrows plenty from both, aiming to give Indian song-and-dance pics the same sort of crossover success 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, did for Asian martial-arts movies." "Indian star Hrithik Roshan makes a striking international debut in an ambitious Bollywood crossover film. Grand, action-packed love story set amid the garishness of Las Vegas," said The Hollywood Reporter. "'Kites' flies! Entertaining and lovely to look at! It works perfectly well on its own terms," said the Film Journal. "Roshan and Mori are as beautiful as human beings can be, and the love they depict is as high-flown as you'll find in a movie," said the San Franciso Chronicle suggesting, "Go in smirking, but by the time it's over, you'll believe." Philadelphia Inquirer found it "Preposterously entertaining!" Chicago Newcity called it "a glory of delirium. Anything can, and does, happen. I long for an Amer-Indie movie with the same lunatic verve. As curry-dusted popcorn goes, 'Kites' is savoury distraction."

Opens with 10000 shows across India, gets good reviews from international press

Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer 'Kites', a love story about an Indian guy and a Spanish girl, has become the first film to have 10,000 shows across Indian theatres on its first day May 21. Produced by Rakesh Roshan's Filmkraft and distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures, 'Kites' has opened in 2,000 screens in India and 500 screens overseas, making it the biggest Indian release so far. "I am overwhelmed by the response both in India and abroad," said producer Rakesh Roshan. Hrithik said: "My dad and I are extremely grateful to Reliance BIG Pictures for the extraordinary release given to 'Kites' worldwide and the tremendous love showered on the film by cinegoers." The multiplexes are booked till Sunday (May 23). "The advance ticket booking has been extraordinary. We have sold more than 5,500 tickets for the next three days," said Amit Awasthi, senior manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas that is running 33 shows per day with a seating capacity of more than 8,000, told IANS. Deepak Taluja, senior vice president (business and operations) of Fun Cinemas, said: "The advance booking at Fun Cinemas till Sunday for all the properties put together in Delhi is close to 3,500. We are expecting 'Kites' to run for at least two more weeks." On May 28, Brett Ratner's pacier version titled 'Kites: The Remix' will be released in 300 screens worldwide. The international press has raved about the film. New York Times praised Hrithik in its review saying, "Mr. Hrithik Roshan requires viewing uncut: writhing on the dance floor or just gazing into space, the man was made to drive women crazy, one movie at a time." Los Angeles Times said: " 'Kites' has been given the no-holds Bollywood treatment by producer Rakesh Roshan and director Anurag Basu. The result is an exhilarating escapist entertainment that plays out like a violent and floridly poetic allegory." The Hollywood Reporter too showered praise on the Hrithik. "Hrithik Roshan anchors the film with a solid, believable performance and a palpable chemistry with his co-star that will remind audiences just how hot a good Bollywood romance can be," it said. "Deliriously entertaining," wrote Variety. Indo-Asian News Service