Subscribe to RSSKites: Why I did what I did…and some random ponderings
Kites
No I am not exactly reviewing the film. I’m sure whoever wanted a review must have read multiple of them already. I just want to make a few points which I consider to be pertinent.
Why I did what I did:
I had carefully stayed away from over-budgeted and over-hyped Bollywood biggies after last year’s Blue sent me into a depression and so I was hell bent on not catching Kites till yesterday. But I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable at the public reaction to this film. Wasn’t a film by FilmKraft starring its heir apparent supposed to be lapped up by everybody? Why do the so called “masses” who prefer to “leave their brains behind”, are now saying that it is an insult to their intelligence? Has there been a sudden cultivation of eclectic cinematic taste among them? Well, the list of Bollywood hits over the last few years does not show it! My hunch was that most of the negativity is due to the language barrier rather than anything else. As a nation accustomed to spoon-fed cinema, reading the subtitles is too much of hard-work for most of us and an unwarranted and unwanted exercise for the eyes. Anyways, I decided to try it myself.
So, was there anything good?
If I have to put a blanket statement, I would say it’s not a great film but far worse films have become blockbusters in recent years. Barbara Mori is hot (I don’t care how the male actors look) and can act unlike most of the western imports out here. HR also shoulders the responsibility of carrying the whole film as one would expect him to do in a home production. Anurag Basu uses a similar narrative like Gangster, he starts with the doom, and then there are flashbacks and I think this format works fine. The film is paced decently as the songs and sentimental interludes are kept short and a runtime of 130 mins is an achievement for big budget Bollywood production. It is shot well with high production values. I believe the Ratner cut minus the songs (and plus you know what) would be more enjoyable. Having said that let me point out a few issues that works for or against the film depending on the preferences of the viewer,
- Excessive focus on the leads and underwritten sidekicks: Yes we know who is producing the film, but it does not have to be so obvious! Anyways, this is the problem with most of the star vehicles. The leads are present in 90% of the film and this overemphasis on the lead pair takes a toll on the others. I feel sad for Kangna Ranaut & Kabir Bedi. It’s an insult to them and they should have refused to play such bit parts.
- Lack of a strong villain: This has been the case with all Roshan films since KNPH. A lackluster villain means even the hero has no opportunity to shine. They must realize two things,
- Simply having a mean beard & weird accent does not make an effective villain. I believe they are not working hard enough to create really mean villains.
- We still miss Amrish Puri. Bollywood fast needs a replacement for him.
- Some clichés: As the intention is to push the limits and break new grounds, they could have done away with the usual clichés,
- Sad backstories involving poverty and deceased mother doesn’t move anyone nowadays.
- All sacrificing friends are also very hard to believe. More realistic characters would have been welcome. If I was their friend I would not have gotten myself into that soup. J’s friend as well as the driver (for a moment I thought RR was doing a Hitchcockian Cameo, thankfully it wasn’t him) are such selfless characters who arrive at the right moment to save the day and they don’t give a damn about their own wellbeing.
- And finally, the biggest of them all, “Love at first sight”. Yes I am an unromantic bugger…but I find the very premise too convenient to believe.
- Average action sequences: Action sequences, mostly car chases, are strictly OK. Without mentioning any other film, I can definitely say that I have seen them before. They are just adequate and nothing jaw dropping or exhilarating. Considering the ambition levels, they could have tried something new.
- Convenient climactic confrontation: The final confrontation with the villain seemed too convenient for the hero. In fact I find it the same in most of the films nowadays. I expected a long drawn, blood soaked, gunpowder orgy with maximum body count but it was not to be!
- Spotting the references: Now, there is nothing to be surprised. As everyone expected, there were many references, inspirations, or tributes in this film. Yes, the Thelma and Louise reference is the most prominent (or was it a reference to RGV’s James?). I have not seen Tony Scott’s Revenge, but one look at the plotline in wiki does the trick. There are many others but there is no point in stating the obvious anyways.
Overall, I can say that the basic premise of linguistic barrier/misunderstanding could have been used more effectively. A couple of scenes are done well, but I believe they were not sure if they should focus on that aspect (leading to more subtitles) or probably you need to have a Coppola’s DNA to pull that off. So, this could have been a humane drama or a mindless heist/action caper but in ends up somewhere in between which is likely to disappoint both types of audiences. But I must say that I did not feel as pathetic as I felt after watching Dhoom2 or Blue for that matter. If some people can take it as a complement, they’re welcome.
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I must say its a pure bull crap of a movie. looks very very good but is made out of a cliched story, cheesy dialogs and Hritik worship. Of course its better than Blue but that isnt saying much.
I was literally sweating in the chilled AC of PVR and wanted to view Simha again for a much needed dose of adrenaline.
@CAD
that is why I deliberately caught in in a single screen @120….visited a single screen after many years as the risk was too high…:D
coming to the adrenaline part, I think Bollywood has lost it already…the last truly adrenaline pumping mass hit was Gadar…now all they make are chick flicks and teen movies…I felt even the remakes like Ghajini and Wanted toned down the violence…
Kites is sure a bold experiment. For the f irst time i get to see a 2 Hour long AD movie, solely promoted to Brand Hrithik, yeah sure Barbara Mori is there, but strictly eye candy. As for the rest of the cast, AHEM, don't really matter.
Kites is only about Hrithik, Hrithik romancing, Hrithik running, Hrithik exercising, his ripping muscles. Actually they could have well put Hrithik in drag for Kangna's role and it would have made no fucking difference.
@Ratnakar…did u see it?…I thought you were going to skip it…
anyways both Indian politics and cinema both suffer from similar symptoms…& I can not see any change in the near future…
Jitu, i did to make a point to some "more holier than thou" souls, who feel one should not trash a movie, unless they watched it. As i told ya, its a 2 Hr AD movie.
well, a REdiff review said that it was a long underwear ad with Hritik as the man in briefs
Thanks Jitaditya…I was dreading the prospect of having to review this. I watched it on Sunday at an obscure two screen "multiplex" in Chennai. And that was followed by a 24 hour long train journey where my only company was an over-zealous group returning from Vaillankani. Was too exhausted mentally to write this as soon as I got back.
I agree with all of you wholeheartedly. This is the worst case of promotion I've seen in a hindi film…worse than Bumm Bumm Bole I'd say. As I was mentioning yesterday to someone…if one really wants to be entertained by dance, one might as well search "Salah+Dance" on youtube and get entertained for hours…at no cost. And he's n times better than Hrithik.
My expectations from the film centred mostly around 2 things…the linguistic angle and the prospect of Anurag Basu working with Filmkraft. The linguistic angle was such a letdown…the only time it's actually used is when Hrithik shits in his pants…and that was the crassest it could be. Anurag Basu didn't offer anything new at all…in spite of the potential that the film had. It was sad to see RR's hand prominently overshadowing Basu's.
Also, the depiction of the mafia in these big-budget films is a joke. They're still living in the Ajit age. The way they showed Kabir Bedi's empire in Kites, I wonder if anyone in the film unit had heard of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
"Also, the depiction of the mafia in these big-budget films is a joke. They’re still living in the Ajit age."
And the worse thing, is that they don't even have the campy fun of Ajit. I mentioned before, its not just the heroes and heroines, we r missing our Ajits, Prem Chopras, Gulshan Grovers and Amrish Puris too.
The they bribe the policeman & get away….cops kowtow to the mafia…a very much Indian story at heart…shot in the wrong location…:D
on an unrelated topic…hasn't anyone seen Shrek 4??….I haven't….
I have…will review it by late afternoon. Good fun for kids…they'll just love it.
"The they bribe the policeman & get away….cops kowtow to the mafia"
Jitu, but the cops in US, are no less corrupt than their Indian counterparts, it is a well known fact that the Mob controls Las Vegas, and quite a large number of cops are on the Mafia payroll.
Not that it changes my view about Kites, but that was not unrealistic.
@Ratnakar : Not the bribing part as much…but when Kabir Bedi is describing the business to Hrithik…he mentions that all casinos in Vegas pay him a cut. Now that's something even Vito or Michael Corleone couldn't achieve. You don't kill a patron for cheating. That could wreck your business to no end. And the way Hrithik is absorbed into the "family" is equally laughable.
@Bolly
Ok i get it. But then R&D has never been our movie maker's strong point. Contrast this with the way Scorsese showed Las Vegas in Casino, absolutely realistic, natural.
Also how would such a powerful rich man like Kabir Bedi, agree to his daughter, marrying to some homeless bloke, no matter how handsome he looks or how well he dances. Man you don't get absorbed into Mob families so easily.
LOL…I'll consider myself officially INSANE the day I dream of Marty's touch in a bollywood gangster flick. Those are standards way too high…though knowing about the gaming commission is the least they could've done while basing their characters in Vegas…money laundering is not all that easy in Vegas…especially all casinos passing on a cut to a rival. And I haven't even gotten into the inter-family clashes and massive gangwar that could lead to.
@ Bolly
Now that is what i don't fucking understand.
On one side, you keep claiming we want to take our movies to Global Standard and all that. And when we start comparing with Marty and all, our Whiz Kids start saying "No see you can't compare with International Standards".
I mean you want to go Global, but at the same time, don't want to benchmark yourself, no wonder we are languishing at the bottom.
And i seen that same attitude with some of our movie lovers. I had one big argument with a Guy who calls himself a Movie lover, and keeps quoting P.T.Anderson, Wong Kar Wai, Innaritu, and when i saw his argument in favor of Kites, i was stunned. If this is the attitude "serious movie lovers" have, then not even God can do anything.
I am just posting that review for ur benefit, so that you can see the comments of our "Movie Lovers".
http://passionforcinema.com/kites-movie-review-ki...
@Ratnakar : I gave up on this person after reading his comments on his review of Road, Movie. A closed mind can never be a cinema lover, IMO.
By the way, another wannabe in this one takes the cake.
http://wogma.com/movie/housefull-teho/
In fact this topic should be discussed in isolation as a bigger issue…what do hey actually mean by "internationalization"? not only in this case but we've seen similar comments at the times of D2, Krisshh, Blue etc by the makers as well as a section of the media who consider them to be of "international standard" although it has to be seen how many non NRIs actually saw them overseas….
The Chinese make movies about Chinese in Hong Kong or Shanghai, or going back in time, draw upon their Wuxia mythology.
The Iranians, make movies about people in Tehran or the Iranian countryside.
The Koreans set their movies entirely in Korea.
The Israelis set their movies in Israel.
The Mexicans make movies about people living in Mexico City or the Mexican countryside.
Same with the Brazilians, Filipinos, Thais.
And we must be the only "GREAT" race on earth, who make movies about RICH NRI's in USA or UK.
The Thais, Chinese, Latinos, Iranians, Israelis, Koreans,, Turks make movies that are about their nation, their people, their language, their culture, and they walk away with the awards.
We seek to go "GLOBAL" by making movies about characters living outside India, and we don't even explore the issues they face. And we remain a side show at all major film festivals.
And please don't give the standard excuse of poverty, Brazil, Mexico have the same issues as us, Afghanistan, Bosnia have been destroyed by war, and yet are coming out with some real good cinema. Philippines and Thailand, two nations that till recently were regarded as exotic tourist hot spots, are now making some high quality cinema, and both these nations suffer the same issues of corruption and poverty we have.
Navdeep : This is truly a vicious circle, with the audiences lapping up tripe and the producers continuing to dole out more. As you say, its the culture that we've built over time that's to blame. Its only here that we separate art from entertainment. And that's where I think the fault lies. What baffles me is that we never had this culture earlier. Its only in the last decade or two that our films started losing out on their Indianness. I wonder how we reached this state of creative nadir from the heights that we saw with auteurs like Bimalda, Hrishida, V. Shantaram, Chetan Anand, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla etc.
You’ve got a point there Ratnakar – for Indian films to go global they need to be about something uniquely Indian. Why would anybody want to watch a half-assed version of something that they themselves do really well?
There’s this weird fallacy in Bollyland that to attract an international audience we need to make the same kind of films as Hollywood. This is so wrong on such a basic level that it’s frustrating to even argue this with Industry insiders. As you’ve pointed out – Korea, Iran, Thailnad, China, Japan, ad infinitum, make movies about THEMSELVES. That’s what makes their cinema unique. That’s what attracts an audience.
Even our damn NRI stories have zero authenticity . Nowhere people in nowhere land. The spaces they inhabit are just pretty backgrounds.
Who’s to blame though – filmmakers, producers, the audience? It’s a tragic combination of all these factors – as an example my fave film of the recent past ‘Mother’ – (Joon Ho Park) would have no chance in hell of being produced here. Even if it did, it would likely show to empty halls thereby reinforcing the bias of the producer.
It’s not just our cinema culture – it’s our popular culture at large that’s at fault. Look at book sales, non film music, etc. We have created a culture that rewards people who play safe, cover their ass and self censor.
Just as in governments, every country gets the cinema they deserve. Hits like ‘Houseful’ prove this, don’t they?
@Bollyfan – I have my theories on the shift in Indian pop culture but it's a long, long discussion.
Navdeep – Let's have it. Say we begin from what came first chicken or the egg. Popular culture started deteriorating and hence art and media went downhill? Or vice-versa? Who is who's reflection? Who drives who to change?
Bollyfan – Remember that conversation at Somen's place regarding the same? All of us had different things to say.
Navdeep a full fledged post would be great.
Fatema, Navdeep, Sam, i am in for this discussion related to Pop Culture, have my own views of it.
Well my own views on this.
* With more exposure to the outside world, there was increasing pressure on movie makers to go global, during the 90's we had Star TV flooding Indian homes with American soaps , and the slickness caught on. So there was this desire to make the movies look better, more slicker, more "classy" or whatever that meant.
Now no issue in improving the techniques or trying to make our movies slicker. The issue was "Technique became the Be All and End All" of everything, and Content was given the back seat. Every one wanted to be a wannabe Tarantino or Ritchie later on. Now what is happening is that movie makers only copy the style, not the Content.
QT has been accused of being only a Stylist with no Content, not exactly, if you look at his movies, and see the way, he fleshes out every character, and delineates the relationships between them, it is intelligence at his best. The long monologues he uses in his movies, or not a gimmick, in fact they point to the character's actions later on. Anyway coming back to the topic, what our movie makers have done, is only copy the Style, so while we experimented with camera angles, zooms, color schemas and all, they overlooked the basics like characterization or script. And all we had was beautiful portraits minus soul.
If we take the movies of the earlier era, most of them may or may not have had a mind, but they did have a heart. Currently movies have neither the mind nor the heart, and that is horrendous.
I remember watching a soft drink Ad sometime back in the 90's, i think it was for Sprint, a bunch of faceless guys, all wearing the same shirt, same ties, all looking alike, keep blabbing something like "Oonga Jabba". And then a cool dude comes in, singing
"Who says every one is got to look alike? And think alike? And do alike? Even drink alike". It was supposed to be about asserting your individuality.
Unfortunately most of our stars have become like those guys in the Ad. Every one seems to be alike, nice, sweet, air brushed, 6 pack abs, and every heroine seems to look the same, 0 Size( and 0 brains too), plastic smiles, carefully set teeth, careful smiles.
DAMN I WANT TO SEE REAL PEOPLE, I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO SEE BARBIE DOLLS AND G.I.JOES.
I want to see a Shotgun hollering Khamosh. I want to see a Rajkumar doing his inimitable Jaani act. I want to see a Govinda with his Canary Yellow dresses and zany humor.
What we have is some kind of suffocating structure, that is killing individualism, eccentricity. And that applies equally to the NEW AGE movie makers too, all of whose movies are just References and Tributes.
We need people making Cinema, about What they feel. Not some guy, scanning the Headlines on News Channel, and then picking up the most sensational one. That is what it has become, HEADLINE DEKHO, PIKTURE BANAO.
The pao bhajji you have at the Chowpatty is as much of a Junk food as the Burger you have in Mc Donald's or Burger King. But where the former is spicy and tasty, the latter more often than not is bland and tasteless. Ok i know many swear by Big Mac, but for me it makes the worst kind of food, Junk, Bland and tasteless.
Which is what our current masala movies are like a Mc Donald's Burger- No taste, No Spice, nothing and to top it total Junk.
The other day, i was at the railway station waiting to pick up my Dad. With some time to kill, i just browsed through the book store there, and saw a lot of titles mostly by new Indian authors. I just went through some of them, and my first reaction was to throw them, straight on to the railway tracks or do a bonfire then and there itself.
The writing in those novels, was so indescribably bad, that it made Chetan Bhagat look like Dostoevsky. HOW THE FUCK DID THESE NOVELS EVEN GET PUBLISHED I WONDER? And all the themes were same, Upper Middle Class guys, their lives, their jobs, their women. Man and the romantic stuff in those novels, made me want to puke.
We are a nation of 1 Billion people, that means in effect, we have 1 Billion Stories waiting to be told. You don't need to search everywhere, just talk to the people around you, talk to your friends, talk to your relatives, and you will find there is a story waiting to be told. We are a nation so diverse, so rich in heritage, so rich in culture, that you don't really need to wrack your brain. Walk into any village, spend some time, and trust me you will have a story waiting to be told. With so much diversity, so much potential, all we can narrate are stories that pertain to just one segment of society.
The farmers in Vidarbha, the fishermen near Kanyakumari, the priests in Varanasi, the former princely rulers in Rajasthan, the Partition era refugees who re settled in Delhi, every one of them has a story to tell. And Indians are a garrulous lot. TALK TO THEM, TALK TO THE PEOPLE, GOD DAMN IT.
Much later when i was traveling, i had no Inclination to try out any of the new Indian whiz kids, and then i chanced up on a book on Chanakya, one famous historical personality i always admired. I picked it up and started to read on the train. And the book was really well written. I give a damn for grammar, what matters to me is the expression. And the author of the book, was speaking from the heart, reflecting his views. But then that book will never be publicized on TV or any other media. WHY? Coz it was published by a rather modest publishing home, not one of the big shots.
YES, IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU CAN WRITE CRAP. As long as you have some upmarket publisher willing to publish your book, as long as you can Yap well in English, as long as you can show off your are "ERUDITE". The UPMARKET culture is destroying the nation, corroding it's soul, what it is doing is keeping off really talented people, who face a handicap of communication, and promoting NO TALENT ASS CLOWNS, who can yap well. And as long as this happens, be prepared to see our pop culture go more and more to the DOGS.
Ok have ranted much, now waiting to see ur responses guys.
Well I'm not sure how it started, perhaps it is a combination of multiple things. I sometimes think even the popular media fuels it with wrong analysis by incompetent people who look for simplistic explanations. For example when Asoka flopped they said people do not like history anymore hence stay away from it. But the fact is that it was a poor film and hence flopped. Anyways it seems to have permeated into general psyche. For example I recently came across a discussion in a blog where people were saying, Rajneeti will flop if it does not have a good romance angle between Katrina & RK!!!
Another related characteristic is easy stereotyping. "Youth" necessarily means those who prefers to be stylish, like fast music, talk in a pidgin language called Hinglish, and possess and aversion towards anything that is serious or old or classical. But the fact is that that is only a fraction of the population.
The evolution of so called popular literature is even more baffling. It was not so even 10 years ago. Now I can see only two kind of books being sold, pulp fiction & management/self help books (u can win etc)…Even the bookstores (except Landmark) hardly store any serious literature nowadays.
Jitu, i am one big pulp fiction fan, even to date i love the MacLean-Ludlum stuff, but even in Pulp Fiction now what we have, Love Stories, or some YUPPIE dude, discovering himself, or some smart ass stuff about IIT/IIM.
No thrillers, no mystery/detective stuff. no adventure stories, no horror, just ROMANCE/YUPPIE DOM stuff.
As for those "How to get Laid in 10 Days" books, wish some one passes a law to ban them, or there is a wholesale Bonfire of them. Absolute rubbish and crap, you try following what is written in those books, you will get screwed royally.
Wowowow!!! I stay away for a few hours and this happens. How much am I loving this. At least some thanks to Rakesh Roshan is due I guess.
Fatema : I went through this discussion and the conversation you mention was playing in my mind simultaneously. Trippy!!
Ratnakar : Quite a passionate stream there…and I can feel you in every bit of what you say.
Navdeep : I second Ratnakar's request. Would be great to have a full-fledged post on the topic.
Jitu : I don't remember which thread it was….one of the Filmdesk ones I guess…where we discussed sourcing content from our homegrown literature. Some of those points would be worth bringing up again.
I fail to remember a single film over the last few years that was based on an Indian literary source…save the overused Devdas. Our literature is filled with rich sources that could be adapted into some great cinema. And its not just restricted to Premchand, Mahasweta Devi & the likes. In the discussion with Jitaditya that I mentioned earlier, I had talked about Surendra Mohan Pathak, a writer of hindi pulp thrillers in the James Hadley Chase mould that are simply made for Bollywood. His books have intricately detailed characters, high voltage action and a good amount of suspense. And since they're series of independent novels based on the same characters, we could even have franchises of our own. And this is just one example…I'm sure there'll be many more.
I agree with Ratnakar on the "all style and no content" theory. This is what I meant when I said that our films lost their Indianness. They tried to ape the west but managed to do so only at a superficial level. I often feel that the same can be seen in so many different spheres of pop culture – the media, literature etc. We skimmed the surface, picked up the most visible nuances from their culture and sat in a smug state of ignorance that we've achieved what they have. And when something exceeds the standards we've set for ourselves, we start trumpeting that we have a world beater on hand. Sajid Khan's statement, "Housefull will do to comedy films, what Matrix did to action films" is an apt example of this. Kites is an apt example. The technical slickness was way better than what we've seen in recent times…so it became world class cinema. FilmKraft thought they could do wonders with it on the global scale…but ended up becoming a joke. Our filmmakers and audiences don't even have their basic calibration of good and bad cinema right.
Ok…let us hold tht discussion for now & wait for the apt post to come up…I just want 2 clear one thing…I probably used the more generic term "pulp fiction " as I was trying not 2 be gender offensive…my target was "chick lit" & resultant "chick flicks" & "teen movies"….:P
Some apt points! Dying to pitch in more but leaving on holiday (after a looong time) with the family in a few hours. Will get back and do that promised post.
Talk on!
Navdeep : Have a great time on the holiday.
Jitu – Aaaaaaahhhhh now ur in dangerous territory!
@Fatema…I know…tht is why I was holding myself back…it's a difficult world! …:-P
Yeah Chik Lit, one of the genres i hate, and Fatema bring it on, i love taking Pangas with the fairer sex, LOL.
I thank my stars I never had to watch any of these "chick-flicks". I still remember I'd watched Tirangaa on one of my dates. Naturally, the girl never came out on another date with me.
Sam, at least tere saath laundiya to aayi pikture dekhne ki.
I never seen a single pikture, with a female all my life. And add to it, i trashed Dil to Paagal Hai badly, making fun of the "Pyaar-Dosti" funda, and after that no female would ever accompany me to a theater.
Ok the above statement excludes Wifey, but then she drags me to those soppy, sleep inducing tear jerkers, that makes me want to jump.
Jitu, Ratnakar – A gender fight is always welcome! love the never-ending fisticuffs! Especially because it means little to me! Not the gender discrimination. But the fights
Oh hell, guys my case is the reverse. We took a nice cute weekend getaway in our long-distance marriage last year meeting mid-way between Blore and Bbay. And guess what we did to each other? Husband forced Kal Ho Na Ho on me and I took revenge by making him watch 'No Country For Old Men'! :S Guess opposites DO attract!!! Sigh!!!!
"Unfortunately most of our stars have become like those guys in the Ad. Every one seems to be alike, nice, sweet, air brushed, 6 pack abs, and every heroine seems to look the same, 0 Size( and 0 brains too), plastic smiles, carefully set teeth, careful smiles.
DAMN I WANT TO SEE REAL PEOPLE, I DON’T FUCKING WANT TO SEE BARBIE DOLLS AND G.I.JOES."
Are you kidding ratna saab, or you need to wake up … its the day and age where SHAHID KAPOOR is a SUPERSTAR!!! … the guy is an incomplete everything… but Superstar!!!! .. nothing new, nothing novel, nothing at all … but SUPERSTAAAAA ! …
BTW add synchronized dancing to that list…. not that I do not enjoy it, but thats not what all that counts in a movie!!!!!!
Unfortunately the same Khans who had brought freshness into Industry in dawn of 90s have their wannabes taking us back to the days when movies were BAAAAAAAAD!!!! lekin chalo subah phir se aayegi! ….
Reminds me of Saurabh Shukla's speech from Luck By Chance…where he talks about why its difficult for people to become stars in Bollywood as compared to Hollywood. That was an awesome swipe at the industry.
Okay, I finally saw this film! And ….. I think the reviewers across websites and newspapers have been very kind to this film. Kites is nothing but junk. I repeat, NOTHING BUT JUNK. I saw the Brett Ratner version….. because I thought it would be less of junk, if nothing else
. And if I couldn't tolerate this version, I don't know what I'd have done if I went in to watch the longer original version.
Most of the recent films that I have seen have made me feel that Indians aren't comfortable in their own skins. They are trying to be someone else. And the people I see in India, especially our generation and younger, prove the point that what is shown in films is just a reflection of reality. You hear them ranting against everything American. Yet, they themselves are in a rush to be American (and none of the good things that America stands for) – the lingo, the dress, the movies, the music and the food! Isn't that what you see in our movies as well?
'Kites' was yet another of those films in the long line of trash that has been coming out of country of late! (and I don't mean only Hindi films!) it had no story to speak of…. and the ending was similar to the director's more appreciated, earlier film…. There was nothing that I could say I liked about the movie. I was only thinking throughout the movie, "What was Hritik thinking????"
@Debashree…so…what is the public reaction 2 Ratner cut?….is it going 2 perform any financial miracle tht the producers r hoping for?…
Jitaditya – There were 7 of us in the theatre
. Me, my husband, my friend, her husband, another couple (American) and a single guy (American). The single American guy grunted and walked out of the film after 10-15 minutes (even leaving behind his popcorn!) and the other American guy was shaking his head in disbelief and relief (that the film had ended) when we passed him 
. That should tell you a lot!
Of course, I don't know what happened at the other halls…. and also, if I missed anything positive that was there in the Hindi version….(was there something, that would have made me like the film a little better?)
Debashri : No…you didn't miss anything. Actually, you were lucky to have not seen whatever you didn't.
Jitu : There have been reports of the film having worked its way into the US Top 10. I think it was more like the joke where a kid comes second in a race…just that there were only 2 runners participating.
@ Bolly
Right now it is not even in the US top 10, and has dropped off the radar there too. My Name is Khan, is a bigger than this in US. So Rakesh Roshan, can't crow about that also. It did pull in some crowds due to the curiosity factor, but that is it.
@Debashree
no I don't think u missed anything…I actually thought this cut would be better minus the boring songs…
Jitaditya – I got real lucky then
. Because the movie was ridiculous even without the songs…. I don't think 'Kites in the sky' would have done anything to make it better for me 