Kites Review – “Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori’s romance doesn’t help Kites fly”

Starring Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori. In Hindi, English, and Spanish with English subtitles. Rating not available.

There has been much hype around Kites for its international crossover potential and for the reported sizzling chemistry between Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and Mexican beauty Bárbara Mori. At the core of this film is a love story meant to bridge not only two cultures, but also the audiences of two film industries—and that love story just does not have enough oomph to make this film fly.

Watch the trailer for Kites.

Jay (Roshan) is a petty Las Vegas huckster who marries illegal immigrants for extra cash. The film begins with him shot and left for dead in Mexico. As he heals and makes his way back to Sin City, we learn of his love affair with Natasha (Mori), the fiancée of his wealthy girlfriend’s brother.

The difficulty in their relationship, aside from not having a common language, is that they are both marrying into a family of mobsters that rules Vegas. This is, apparently, an alternate Vegas, where the mobsters are all Indian and the police officers make fleeting appearances only when the mobsters have need of them.


Director Anurag Basu, whose last film was the edgy and very cosmopolitan Life in a Metro, has pulled together all the right elements: big budgets, high production values, stunning locales, the expected amount of dizzying stunts, car chases and things that blow up, and, of course, pretty people falling in love. And yet instead of being moved by the story, I was thinking more about the many illogical plot points in the film.

The dialogue of this film is a mixture of Hindi, English, and Spanish. And, as is more common in Bollywood, it melds multiple genres