User reviews

Watching it in 2021..Really Indian Audience had no good choice on films when it Released..New generation will definitely love this movie..very good and fresh touch..i can't believe that this movie is box office flop..why..

I've watched hundreds of Indian Movies, honestly most of them too disappointing when it comes to action and visual effect, Kites bring new breeze, the plot maybe usual and classic ( people who fell in love would do anything ) but since this is an Indian version the story is quite melancholy but not excessive i'm enjoying this movie very much, to describe the movie in one word so kites is "beautiful" If you are a huge fan of some nut thrilling/action movie like Saw,Rambo,Texas chainsaw and so many kind of them then you should go far away from this movie, but if you love something like romantic but combined with action then this movie is a good choice for your weekend entertainment

First things first, you would have heard the phrase: 'Only Style, No Substance'.. Kites changes that phrase into 'Only Hrithik, Nothing Else'.. Touted as the stylish bollywood film ever with loads of drama, action and thriller.. But it had NOTHING except a few scenes which do bring smile on faces but were not strong enough for people to say cheers for the movie.. Even Dhoom:2 was bad but Hrithik carried it off well on his own, but Kites is worse and this time even Hrithik's enigmatic charisma can't do any good to this film.. Starting from story, screenplay and acting everything was poor.. Anurag Basu who previously directed Gangster and Life in a Metro gave his worst this time.. Hrithik initially was not up to the mark but then as the film paced he got better and better but like i said his heroics can't save the film this time.. Barbara Mori was good but not best like everyone said.. The bad man Nicholas Brown was at par with Barbara..The extremely talented Kangana Ranaut was wasted! Even Kabir Bedi didn't get scope this time.. His role had to be creepier but he acted like a novice and was nowhere in the second half of the movie..

Here goes the stupid plot:Dance Teacher Hrithik Roshan acts to be in love with Kangana Ranaut so he could use her wealth to live his life but his destiny turns his life upside down when he comes face to face with Kangana's Brother (Nicholas Brown)Tony's fiancée Barbara Mori. He realizes that Barbara is only marrying Tony for money just like him.. They both fell in love and the usual betrayal takes place in a typical bollywood style.. Kabir Modi who happens to be Kangana's Father and the owner of a prestigious Casino in Las Vegas who also is a Gangster does nothing and his Tony becomes mad after the ran-away couple that he just travels around the globe after them shooting around with his men..

The second half of the movie is so moronic that one wonders why is he still sitting in the theater watching this stupid movie.. The response if the audience was so bad that as soon as the exit door was open people started leaving their seats abusing the film badly.. No one even bothered to watch the last scene and the end credits! Hrithik does his stunts well in the song 'Fire'.. He is completely pokerface in the song and is busy in performing the dance stunts that he even forgets to bring a smile on his face.. He is totally expressionless in the song.. The music is above average is different from past movies of FilmKraft productions.. The only thing which is commendable in the movie is the cinematography..

To conclude I would just say this is the WORST HRITHIK ROSHAN MOVIE till date.. Save your money and time and invest both in some other work.. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED.. And this time the Roshans are not going to have the last laugh.. They had said that this is a landmark film and will touch those heights which no other bollywood movie has ever had, but what the hell! In fact they should say sorry to all the people for creating such a big hype about the movie which is nothing but a below average mediocre bollywood masala..

My Rating: 3/10; (I would have given 2 but being a huge Hrithik fan I felt pity and gave an extra point)

Thanks & Regards

Kites takes its name from the notion of two beings seemingly carefree without a worry, dancing in the sky in their freedom, only that the harsh reality of life meant someone else is pulling the strings from down below, making them nothing but mere puppets in the whole scheme of things that is called Life. So sets the premise of star crossed lovers who have to jump through plenty of hoops just to get together, and given that romances usually tug at your heartstrings when they make you feel and shed a tear for the characters.

But in true blue Bollywood fashion, there's always a little time for song and dance, since Jay is a drifter in Las Vegas trying to carve a living through 1001 jobs, with the one he loves most being a dance instructor which doesn't pay a lot, and supplementing his income through green-card schemes by marrying illegal immigrants in a scam set up by his friend Robin (Anand Tiwari). As chance would have it, daddy's rich girl Gina (Kangana Ranaut who disappears to make way for Mori) has the hots for Jay, and the latter only reciprocating because of her money and legacy of her casino-owning father.

Enter Natasha, the fiancé of Gina's brother Tony (Nicholas Brown), who also is set to marry the casino scion for the sake of money, never mind his constant ill-treatment and bad temper, and soon we have everything set up for the lovers Jay and Natasha, who go way back because of that green-card scam, to decide if they will risk everything, including their initial prime motivations of striking it rich the easy way, for true love, despite not being able to communicate directly except through broken, halting English phrases, since she's Mexican, and him Indian.

Told in non-linear fashion separating two timelines present and past through a series of flashbacks, this technique actually managed to draw plenty of emotions at the last major sequence where all is revealed about a key character, which is delivered brilliantly so much so that you'll be hard pressed not to reach for a tissue. It's shot in a peculiar fashion as well though with plenty of close ups on its beautiful leads, that offers plenty of opportunity to milk those symmetrical facial expressions in a very in-your-face fashion, which I suppose nobody in the audience will mind having to gaze at good lookers anyhow.

Hrithik Roshan's performance is almost flawless, but somehow I felt that his Jay is one of his weakest cinematic personas thus far. Opportunities to show his toned body comes by the by the bucketloads (and makes those struggling to fight flab extremely envious), and so does the chance to dance, being one of the best dancers Bollywood has to offer. He demonstrates once again he's Mr Flexible, and his dance number opposite Kangana Ranaut actually sizzles, with Ranaut actually showing that she can dance to the demands of a Hindi film heroine.

The revelation of the film though, as I mentioned, still belonged to the charismatic presence of Barbara Mori, who is likely to gain plenty of adoring fans from the Indian continent for her heartfelt portrayal as the drop dead gorgeous heroine who's vulnerable, yet able to show who's boss by wearing the pants in the relationship. She's no flower vase, having to take charge most of the time especially when Roshan's Jay goes into puppy dog mode, and frankly, in my opinion, her Natasha has him all wrapped up around her little finger. Mori makes the character believable, has moments where she injects natural comedy, and possessing a smile that is able to disarm the most stern of demeanour. I'm certain that most reviewers will find positivity from her performance even if they somehow adopt a lukewarm response to the hype surrounding the film which is basically a simple love story told in a roundabout manner.

Even if it clocks in at 130 minutes which is short by Bollywood standards, Anurag Basu still managed to throw in so many sub plot and elements into the film, that it pretty much travels at breakneck speed from start to finish unfolding in quite an expected manner. Action sequences in the film somehow had a ring of familiarity to them, and sadly none of them excites or puts you at the edge of your seat, being nothing more than peripheral for the major love story. Basu seemed to champion cars smashing against cars followed by noisy explosions, and exploits this so much that it becomes generic and a formulaic yawn. The action sequences needed to be more imaginative, just as how main villain Tony has to be more than a one-dimensional caricature to add to that sense of menace and danger.

It's reported that two versions of the film were shot simultaneously, one with the language predominantly in English, while the other in Hindi, the former for the Hollywood and Western markets. So enter director Brett Ratner who's re-editing it for a more "international" audience which promises no dance sequences and a lot more sensual scenes than what's shown here (where a simple kiss can raise eyebrows), while yet keeping true to the nature of the story, with Hrithik Roshan even moved by this version. I don't mind sitting through another round actually, just to compare and evaluate if the Ratner version is superior. Here's hoping the DVD will come with both!

I'm terribly disappointed by Kites. I expected to see something that is both romantic and light, but this film is awfully clichéd, heavy and melodramatic. The script is very poor and the story is generally uninspiring and at points does not even make sense. Anurag Basu's direction is inconsistent. The narrative is filled with flashbacks and some sequences are devoid of words, resulting in a very confusing development which distracts from the main proceedings. The music is good in parts. None of the songs is particularly memorable but some of them are enjoyable when played in the film. The movie does have its moments. Some action sequences are entertaining and so are some of Hrithik and Barbara's scenes together. Which brings me to the next point and it is the lead pair. Sadly, their interaction was not brought out very well. At points I wondered if there was something else to their relationship and sometimes I struggled to understand why they actually loved each other so much, and that was not clear to me from what I saw on-screen. Their relationship was poorly executed by the director. Hrithik Roshan is okay. There is something sincere about his performance but overall he is not very convincing and at points looks way too pretentious. Barbara Mori is extremely attractive but she too seems lost in this lingual mess. Kangna Ranaut is criminally wasted in a role that is clearly just a favour to the one who actually launched her career in the industry. Nicholas Brown is bad as Tony. The film's ending was supposed to be moving but instead it looked corny and stale. Kites is a one-time watch and there too it falters too many times. It sadly lacks the power to captivate and excite and is overall a forgettable film on all accounts.

I would give Kites 4/5. Its truly an experimental movie. One thing is; its not that easy to experiment in such a way. We have to appreciate the makers. Anurag basu has done a good job. There are no Rakesh Roshan shades in the movie. Hrithik could be more better in few scenes. He has to improve in them. Script doesn't demand more for Kangana. Barbara is cool. Girl next door in her country. Rajesh Roshan worked with Anurag Basu but not with his brother. So the music goes Anurag's way. Cinematography, Production design, Background Score, costumes, editing, make up, visuals with color are good. But the script(writing) and the screen play should have been much better adding some more elements which could commercialize the film more. This should be a lesson for a commercially weak script for high budget films made in a couple of years or more time. Definitely, it could have been better if the script is fine tuned. Finally its worth watching for the effort the makers have kept.

You do not have to be a psychotic student of rocket science to deduce that Kites is all set to bomb. In fact, it bombed the day its posters released. Oh really, I mean that! Take a look at them: You see Hrithik Roshan walking in the desert like a thakela* aadmi**, you see Barbara - well, not in the mori*** - but against the sky looking nowhere in particular. And yes, you see one big dazzling spot of light behind Hritik and that's supposed to be the thirsty Mexican Sun.

That description sounds boring no? But then that's what the production is: Spectacularly boring. To make matters even clearer, the trailers turned up - complete with Barbara semi-naked in the Mexican desert, trying hard to cover her naked ignorance of facial expressions and Hrithik Roshan showing off an accent and - of course - his dancing skills. Evidently, that fellow just can not believe his luck that he is born Indian. He's been peddling himself off as some Greek guy from the Mediterranean region with so much aggression, I have a hard time believing his luck is so damn rotten.

Anyway, the trailers came and went and all they did was cause men to slip on the drool that flowed out of their mouths; courtesy Moriji. The action scenes looked so blah, Bond's martini must have hardly been shaken, forget stirred. But even then no one in the production team bothered to sit up and do some damage control.

"Well," they said to themselves, "We have the Roshans, we have the naked babe, we have so much money, we have two versions of the movie - one for the dumb and one for the dumber - it's a recipe that will make millions!"

Sigh! Indians! Reliance! And their stupid ways of making movies! They never never learn. I'll be surprised if Kites even recovers production costs. The manner in which they have splashed money and prints all over USA, it's as if someone in the US branch of marketing knows what a colossal mess this is and is trying hard to get some, if not all, in that country to watch this Indo-Mexican cockatoo of a tail.

As for India, the verdict is in. Yes, Hrithik can dance - no denying that. Yes, Barbara Mori is Playboy material - no denying that either. And yes, Anurag Basu has used all the tricks in his book to make a sadela**** thakela 18th century plot look appealing. But no, we have seen it all (Yawn!), seen better (Yawn Yawn!), and yes! We aren't that dumb to not fall asleep!

*thakela = sad, tired (Hindi); **aadmi = man (Hindi); ***mori = bathroom (Marathi); ****sadela = rotten (Hindi)

Boy; after so many disheartening feedbacks from my friends; I actually enjoyed the movie. Hrithik; truly is the most charismatic actor of India. Barbara Mori's acting; her expressions; her smiles all are fabulous. She was great in the movie. I like the background scores and songs are also good. The best segment of the movie was about the dilemma of the protagonists and their snapping out of it. How two people could be entwined; purely due to feelings; traversing region, language; be it their destiny; is beautifully portrayed. Although; I didn't like the ending, but it is believable; as it is not necessary that things ought to end happily. Also, Hrithik's dance, at the movie's preamble is great; as all of us are aware of this talent of his. Surely, the movie doesn't tell a completely unique or 'not seen/heard before' kind of love story; but the direction, great acting and the composing elements like scenes, landscapes, cinematography and music does make it worth watching for a great experience, when you are completely free and in a blue/romantic mood. Great Movie; 10/10.

This movie has set new benchmark for Indian cinema, even Ram Gopal Verma will have to work really hard to break it.

Yes Hritik is handsome,charming, awesome dancer and has dominating presence on the screen, and of course Barbara Mori is sexy and seductive, but that is not enough, you need a screenplay to make a movie. The Movie simply has nothing to offer, other than its music.

It could have been much better if at least one percent of the energy and time spend on the promotion would have been spend on making the movie.What a tragedy! Jindagi do pal ki, and i wasted two hours of it watching this movie.

My review is for the 130 minute Indian version.

Some of the reactions that I observed in the theater. At the 80 minute mark, the person adjacent to me is whispering in a tired voice "Oh my God! how much more time is the movie going to last?" At the end of the movie, I saw a group of friends waking one of their friends. There are uniform sighs of disappointment from the audience by the time end credits started rolling. You may guess now in which direction this review is going to be.

I saw the trailer of Kites a couple of months ago and was not at all impressed by it. So I went to the screening with a bit of low expectations. But the movie was worse than my already lower expectations.

If the purpose of the movie is to entertain the audience, then the movie failed miserably. The romance between the leads appeared very forced to me. I love love stories but this romance didn't touch my heart at all. Baring a couple of scenes, the comedy too appeared as if it is placed because it has to be there. As far as the actions sequences goes, I don't know how many of my fellow movie lovers felt they are good but I felt more thrilled while playing NFS than watching these action pieces. Since when does American police cars have become crackers which explode at the slightest crash? Every day you can see at least one movie in HBO or Star Movies whose action sequences are better than these. Are there many dance sequences in the movie? Nope. There is one at the beginning which by now should have been present at YouTube or some other such site.

I couldn't believe that 4 people are involved with the story and screenplay. I can guess their initial thought process here. Rakesh Roshan got the idea about a love story where the lovers don't understand each other's language. Then he commissioned others and they wanted to make this love story an epic with great romance and great action. But neither of them, especially the romance part is not at all interesting and the worse thing is that it is boring. I think that on every page of the script, there is only a poster of Hrithik and how to cash his name and nothing else. Basically what you have in the movie is a romantic scene - action scene - romantic scene - action scene. After a while it really is a torturous experience to hear the dialog between Hrithik and Barbara and I was thinking "Oh no! not another romantic dialog please".

You know your supporting cast acting was bad when Kabir Bedi gives a robotic performance. It is also time for Kangana Ranaut to say no to such repeat roles of psychologically damaged woman. This is some serious talent caught in an image which is damaging the career.

So what are the good points of the movie. Undoubtedly Hrithik Roshan. This is a Hrithik show allover & he is fantastic. Nobody in his generation in Bollywood has his screen presence. In the single dance sequence of the movie, he dances superlatively. His performance is also very good. Much has been written about Barbara Mori. She is beautiful no-doubt and she is good in her role. The music is average fare but the cinematography is good.

I strongly think that it is high time Hrithik comes out of his 'khandaani' films (films that have anything to deal with Rakesh Roshan) and select some good subjects outside. It feels bad to see the wastage of such a talent. Most of his films depend on his style but style is temporary. I'm very sure that Mithun Chakraborty was a style icon in 80s but who cares about his films and style now except the judges and contestants of Dance India Dance. The style of Hrithik is going to be outdated in 20 years and so would be films such as this or Dhoom series because by then more trendy movies and some other cool hunk will appear. One should admire Ranbir Kapoor for his job as far as selecting the movies is considered.

This movie is strictly for girls or gays who are absolutely delirious & crazy about Hrithik. Since I am neither of those, Kites didn't work for me at all. A movie could be anything but boring which Kites sadly is. I really hope that the 90 minute international version being released next week isn't as boring as this although I'm not very optimistic about it.

It's a Hollywood bollywood combo, but great! Main Indian audience won't like it because 90% is English and Spanish. Hrithik was SuperB in the movie and Barbara 2. It's a movie that wont gain great box-office achievement in India, but will be appreciated by many Hollywood critics. Rakesh Roshan was great as a producer and Anurag is one of the best in Bollywood. Thumbs up to them! Also, the screenplay is wonderful... Never seen such a screenplay in a Bollywoodmovie besides Black. Kites is one of a cult movie among movies as Black, MariGold etc. Just go and watch! If you don't want a ordinary Bollywood movie. It's pasta not biryani.

Hrithik's much awaiting movie finally got released. As a fan of his i entered in theatre after watching exclusive trailer which was expressing dynamic action,dance and romance sequences. But it disappointed me pretty much. Script is soul of the movie. And it needs be very well researched, since audiences nowadays look much in detail while watching a movie. In Kites, script was lengthy and also seemed not improvised. It could have been a better experience to watch it if the director would have taken out unnecessary scenes or shorted them out. Sets and locations are decoration of the movie. Though in trailers, locations seems interesting, but while the reels are rolling in theatre, somehow it doesn't interest you much. I believe you can blame over detailing part of story in it. Casting is like giving characters the deserving artist. In case of Kites, it got the right artist but not proper characterizations. Some of the characters were wasted such as Gina (Kangana Ranaut), Bob (Kabir Bedi), & Tony (Nicholas Brown). They entered well but couldn't got enough scope. Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori looks great as couple in the movie. But they wont be able to help Kites get through even few weeks on theatres.Hrithik's dance sequence is the only part worth enjoyable. It proves that Hrithik's best dancer in Bollywood. Due to promotions of the movie, it will have first good weekend. But it will fall following days.

What a roller-coaster ride, m i impressed. Certainly. With all due apologies, i kept away from watching this flick for so long n m i surprised after seeing it. Guys leave all d rubbish people say but this certainly is if not perfect but still a well directed n picturised love story. Anurag basu is indeed a story teller, precisely a love story narrator n boy,he does his job well!!. Has been able to depict a beautiful but unusual romance b/w 2 persons who don't understand each other's language n there lies d best part. Both of them emote n enact their roles with aplomb. In fact they sizzle. Hrithik was a good actor, that was never in doubt but here he proves it all d more n delivers an emotional act. U seem to be involved with him whether he laughs,dances, fights or simply d best scene when he cries n 1 can c sorrow n despair in his body language,his face ,his eyes. Truly an actor who has given masterly performances in lakshya n guzaarish which bcoz of their different takes largely went unnoticed.. He delivers his dialogues in English with so much ease day 1may simply forget his native tongue. He is class apart,. Especially laudable is his dance at the. Beginning where he mesmerises n enthralls u with his effortless moves. n special mention of d gr8 work behind d camera capturing d moments in a quite beautiful manner, with a decent hummable background score. In all, this ain't any nonsense, u got to watch it n accept it for d performances, on screen persona of Hrithik,cinematography n direction. N as far as glitches go, give them a blind eye to enjoy n appreciate the good hard work... Hrithik the Greek god. .....

So here I'm out of theatre watching this year's one of the keenly awaited film of the bollywood in Hindi version and predicting that neither the mass nor the class will like it and it would be surely box office disaster if mouth publicity will reach quite early to the audience.

Now let me tell you first why mass won't like it: Number one it's lifeless and without any sort of substance in story or presentation in anything conventional or non conventional. Almost 70 % of the film is in mixture of Spanish-English and the common audience hasn't yet cultivated the habit to follow Hindi subtitles throughout the film to understand a simple routine love story. Remember K. Balachander's 'Ek Duuje Ke Liye' where two lovers don't understand their regional lingo ended their lives at sea shore and we feel so sad for poor Vasu and Sapna in our first viewing. This poor version severely fails to deliver any intensity to the pairs of lovers. By the way are they lovers is still a big question. Nobody care a damn for the ill fated pair of glamorous desi-international kites even in tragic end here The film don't have a single peppy Hrithik dance number (for which he's quite popular) nor fine action sequence (showing car chase isn't action sequence in my opinion esp. when it seems so ridiculous) And so its not 'paisa vasool entertainment' even for popcorn money, forget the ticket!!!

Now let me come to class audience who join cinema hall to watch it for Director Anurag Basu whose last film 'Metro' was really impressive. The screenplay, tug of tangled emotions and lifelike characters made his 'Metro' quite near to heart. Here Basu quite miserably fails to deliver any of these things. It's in the second half where film starts irritating you to the limit till the end. Basu-Roshan Inc. tries to make it an international product with Spanish actress, foreign locales focusing style and nothing else. The film randomly copied the sequences of Hollywood films from 'Casino', 'Bonnie & Clyde' to 'Road to Perdition.' Why don't they copied the whole films for that matter, Bhatt camp is at least doing that for common audience!! Poor Bollywood!!! Creativity and originality is questionable affair in bollywood.

The only thing worthy of attention its Hrithik and Barbara's chemistry which looks so immensely beautiful on screen but hell they're supposed to!!! But what about performance, well the director and producer papa don't care much about it. I doubt Hrithik's style and charisma won't work this time. Though I must say its Spanish beauty Barbara Mori whose presence with all her innocent and natural expressions let you bear the film till the end. Thank god the film is just two hours affair…I'm adding one more point for that in ratings. Highly Not Recommended.

Ratings- 4/10 (Watch it at your own risk!)