''Kites'' is a 2010 Indian romantic

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Anurag Basu Anurag Basu (born 8 May 1974) is an Indian director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He began his directing career in television, moving to feature films in 2002. Basu achieved initial success with his films tackling the themes of passion and ...

, with the story written and produced by

Rakesh Roshan Rakesh Roshan (born 6 September 1949) is an Indian film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor who works in Hindi films. He is the son of Indian music director Roshan and Indian Bengali singer Ira Roshan. He had appeared in 84 films throu ...

, starring

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including six ...

Bárbara Mori Bárbara Mori Ochoa () (born 2 February 1978) is a Uruguayan-born Mexican actress, model, producer and writer. She is known for playing the main character in the 2004 telenovela '' Rubí,'' one of the most successful telenovelas of all time. Sin ...

Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...

, and

Kabir Bedi Kabir Bedi ( pa, ਕਬੀਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਬੇਦੀ; born 16 January 1946) is an Indian actor. His career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States and especially Italy among other European countries in three media: f ...

. Presented in English as ''Kites: The Remix'' by

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, ''The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several films ...

, the film was released in India and in North America on 21 May 2010. Its 208-theater opening in North America made it the largest Bollywood release up to that time. It was also the first Bollywood film to reach the weekend top ten, though ''

My Name is Khan ''My Name Is Khan'', is a 2010 social drama film directed by Karan Johar and written by Shibani Bathija and lyricist Niranjan Iyengar. It was produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan under their production companies, Dharma Productions and ...

'' had a larger first-weekend North American gross. Despite a strong opening, the film only managed to collect net in its lifetime run following a critical loss. Domestically, one of the major criticisms aimed at the film was towards the multilingual narrative that featured the majority of dialogue in English and Spanish, while it was advertised as a Hindi-language film in India.

Plot

Jay Ray (

) is a dance teacher in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. As a sideline, he marries immigrant women to get them green cards in exchange for money. When Gina (

), the rich daughter of a powerful

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

casino owner Bob Grover (

), falls for him, Jay goes along to marry into money. He discovers that his future brother-in-law, the vicious, homicidal Tony ( Nicholas Brown), is about to marry a Mexican woman named Natasha (

), whom Jay knows as Linda, the last of the immigrant women he married. On the night before "Natasha" and Tony's wedding, Linda and Jay humorously agree to a "divorce" that night. A jealous, gun-wielding Tony arrives at her apartment while Jay is there. After he hits her, Linda impulsively knocks him out with a heavy object while he tussles with Jay. Linda and Jay go on the run toward Mexico, with Tony and the police in pursuit. They are helped by a friend of Jay, Robin (

Anand Tiwari Anand Tiwari (born 29 May 1983) is an Indian actor, producer, writer and director known for his work in Hindi films. He has appeared in films like ''Kites'' (2010), '' Udaan'' (2010), ''Aisha'' (2010), and ''Go Goa Gone'' (2013). As a stage act ...

). Robin gives them fake passports and IDs so that they can go wherever they want. In the following week, Jay and Linda get married in Mexico. On the day of their wedding, they come back to their house. There, Robin comes to give them the passports and is unexpectedly shot by Tony and his men. Linda and Jay escape, but Jay is shot in the process. In a car chase, Linda stops the car at a train, puts Jay aboard it, and drives off. Back to the present, Jay meets with Jamaal, one of Bob's employees, and is ambushed. Jamaal is killed but not before telling Jay of Linda's whereabouts. Jay kills off all of Tony's men and then kills Tony by smashing his face into the car door. He is shot then by Gina. He drives off to the location where Jamaal said Linda was last seen. It is shown that after Jay was put aboard the train, Linda was ambushed on a cliff and sent Jay a text message saying, "I am going...Sorry, Forget me". She drives off of the cliff, killing herself by drowning. Jay cries and then smiles, jumping off the cliff as well. Finally, he is reunited with Linda under the

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

, and they embrace through death.

Cast

as Jai Singhania *

as Linda/Natasha *

as Gina Grover (credited as special appearance) *

as Bob Grover * Nicholas Brown as Tony Grover *

as Robin *

Yuri Suri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...

as Jamaal, Bob's family

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

*Madhuri Bhatia as Gina's mom *

Steven Michael Quezada Steven Michael Quezada (); born February 15, 1963) is an American actor and politician. He played Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Steven Gomez in the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' from 2008 to 2013 and 2 episodes of its spin-off, ''Bet ...

as a cop *Ronald Robert Hamilton as Railyard Worker *Camme Tyla as News Reporter *Ivan Brutsche as Border Patrol *Luce Rains as Bounty Hunter

Production

Casting

Earlier, actress

Sonam Kapoor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (; born 9 June 1985) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She has won a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award, and from 2012 to 2016, she appeared in ''Forbes India'' Celebrity 100 list based on her income and ...

was offered the female lead, but she rejected the script due to the excessive bold scenes in the film. Later,

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most pop ...

was approached to star opposite

, although she also turned down the offer for the same reasons.

Barbara Mori Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously as ...

was eventually cast as the female lead after much negotiation and script changes.

Pre-release revenues

''Kites''s worldwide distribution rights were sold for acquired by Reliance big pictures in 2010 (except Mumbai). The satellite rights were bought by Sony TV group, while the music rights were bought by T-series/Big music.

Release

''Kites'' was on 3000 screens in India, and across 30 countries and 500 screens globally, according to distributor

Reliance BIG Entertainment Reliance Entertainment Pvt Ltd is an Indian media and entertainment company. It is a division of Reliance Group, handling its media and entertainment business, across content and distribution platforms. The company was founded on 15 February 20 ...

."Kites Grosses 21 Crores Opening Day in India Becoming the Second Highest Opening Ever"
, Reliance BIG Pictures

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

It opened on 208 screens in North America, making it the largest Bollywood release there to that time.

Promotion

To help promote the film, mini "music videos" were released online, each about one minute long and featuring a song from the soundtrack set against scenes from the film. The clothing brand Provogue, which features

as its brand ambassador, launched a ''Kites'' clothing range. A photo shoot regarding the campaign was shot in the Maldives, featuring Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori.

International versions

While the Hindi version of ''Kites'' was released on 21 May 2010 in India, the international version was released one week later, on 28 May 2010. The film was scheduled to be released in over 60 countries. ''Kites'' was released in a second international English-language version as ''Kites: The Remix'', "Presented By"

, recut by his regular editor, Mark Helfrich, with new music by

Graeme Revell Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial/electronic group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer. Some of ...

using remix techniques developed in the series ''

Kung Faux ''Kung Faux'' is an international action comedy television series and audiovisual art assemblage created by Mic Neumann, an American creator–developer showrunner, conceptual artist and multimedia entrepreneur, who remixes classic kung fu films ...

''.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received an 80% positive rating on the film critics aggregate site

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

from 25 reviews, with the consensus being, "Thoroughly overwrought in true Bollywood fashion, ''Kites'' is deeply flawed —and too effervescently charming to resist." The movie generally received mixed reviews in India. It had a score of 5/10 on the critics aggregate site ''Review Gang'', based on 13 reviews. The chemistry of the lead actors and the cinematography were specifically praised by Indian critics Anupama Chopra and Raja Sen.Anupama Chopra
''Kites'' review
NDTV.com

Rajeev Masand Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in his ...

of IBN said "Thrilling action set-pieces, a super-fluid dance number to show off Hrithik's killer moves, and repeated glimpses at the toned bodies of both lead stars. It's almost enough to forgive the uniformly bad acting of all supporting cast".

Anupama Chopra Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

said "the film doesn't become more than the sum of its parts because the second half is flat and in places, outright foolish". Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated, "It fails in the primary promise of a love story which surpasses language barriers," while Shubhra Gupta of ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' calls it "really old wine in a sort-of new bottle". In the U.S., Jeannette Catsoulis of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism" that "caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy. It's 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."

Frank Lovece Frank Lovece () is an American journalist and author, and a comic book writer primarily for Marvel Comics, where he and artist Mike Okamoto created the miniseries ''Atomic Age''. His longest affiliation has been with the New York metropolitan ar ...

of ''

Film Journal International ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. H ...

'' said, "Bollywood enters

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

territory in a hybrid film that takes the heightened emotions, wild tonal ranges and impeccably crisp technique of modern Hindi cinema and puts all that in the service of a tragic love story straight out of Mexican TV. ... As an old-style Hollywood romance in modern dress, it delivers what people say they want when they say, 'They don't make pictures like that anymore.'" Lovece, Frank
"Film Review: ''Kites''"
, ''

'', 19 May 2010 Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said the film "draws from

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

, musicals,

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

ndchase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody – and it gets away with everything because of irectorBasu's visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy."

Box office

India

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014. About Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its ow ...

'' said the film "opened to a bumper response at most places" in India, but noted "reports are not encouraging, the biggest reason for failure are being the film has a lot of English and Spanish dialogue.""Kites Bumper opening, dull reports"
BoxOfficeIndia.com, 22 May 2010
WebCitation archive
The film collected net in its lifetime run in India. It has 281 reviews and 4.6 rating on Amazon prime video.

Overseas

On its first weekend in the North America, the film opened in 208 theaters and ranked No. 10 in the box office, grossing $958,673.Subers, Ray

BoxOfficeMojo.com, 25 May 2010 It was the first Bollywood movie to reach the weekend top ten, though ''

'' had a larger first-weekend North American gross, with $1.9 million at 120 theaters, reaching #13. ''Kites'' debuted at No. 10 in the UK, with an opening of £174,000 from 70 screens. Overall, the film was rated as a flop by ''Box Office India''. The film fared very poorly in the United Kingdom and earned £9,110 on 31 screens, with the per-screen average working out to £294. In the first week that both films were out together in the United States, ''Kites: The Remix'' did only one tenth of the business that the original ''Kites'' did, and less than half on a per-screen basis. Box Office Mojo shows that while the original ''Kites'' film was able to become the first ever original Bollywood created film to score in the "Top Ten" of the overall Hollywood Box office tally on its opening weekend, the ''Kites: The Remix'' hybrid version only managed to place 51st on its first weekend.

Awards and nominations

; 2011 Zee Cine Awards Won * Best Cinematography -

Ayananka Bose Ayananka Bose is an Indian cinematographer of Bollywood movies. He studied cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. He won the best cinematographer of Zee Cine Awards for the movie Kites in 2011. Early life ...

Nominated * Best Female Debut - Bárbara Mori * Best Playback singer male — KK for "Zindagi Do Pal Ki" ; 2011 BIG Star Entertainment Awards Nominated * Best Playback singer male — KK for "Zindagi Do Pal Ki" ;2011 GIMA Awards Nominated *Best Playback singer male — KK for "Zindagi Do Pal Ki"

Music

''Kites'' music album was composed by

Rajesh Roshan Rajesh Roshan Lal Nagrath (born 24 May 1955) is an Indian Hindi cinema music director and composer. He is the son of music director Roshan and singer Ira Roshan. Personal life Rajesh Roshan has a Punjabi Hindu father and Bengali Brahmin m ...

, with lyrics penned by Nasir Faraaz and Asif Ali Beg. The songs "Dil Kyon Yeh Mera" and "Zindagi Do Pal Ki" (both sung by KK) became a rage while other songs were also successful. Variety Magazine said the music "ranges from hip-hop to Enya-esque ululating." The movie's main romantic theme has been described as "identical in melody, key, and instrumentation to "

Aníron The music of ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series was composed, Orchestration, orchestrated, Conductor (music), conducted and produced by Howard Shore between 2000 and 2004 to support Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (film series), film tr ...

" (Theme for Aragorn and Arwen), written by

Enya Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo arti ...

for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''", though Enya is not given any composer's credit for the music in Kites.''Kites Swipes Song from Lord of the Rings''
at AccessBollywood.net ''Kites: The Remix'' was almost completely re-scored with new music by

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kites 2010 films 2010 action thriller films 2010s romantic thriller films 2010s chase films Films set in the Las Vegas Valley Films set in Mexico Films shot in the Las Vegas Valley Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New Mexico English-language Indian films Films about interracial romance Films scored by Rajesh Roshan Reliance Entertainment films 2010 multilingual films Films set in the United States Films shot in the United States American action thriller films American romantic thriller films American chase films American multilingual films Mexican thriller films Films shot in Mexico Films directed by Anurag Basu Films about Mexican Americans Hispanic and Latino American films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films