Sherazade Anurag Basu is an awesome director and saying that this film is the worst I have seen from him is actually a compliment because this film was not that bad. It had its moments but I think it suffered from a poor script. The casting was great and the premise of ill-fated lovers never gets old so what went wrong? I'll tell you what wasn't right, too many unbelievable action sequences (though I have to give lead actress Barbara Mori her credit because every one of her action scenes were spot on, especially the bank robbery scene), too many coincidences (the guy at the train station just happens to have a charger that will charge your phone, the guy you carjack happens to speak Hindi and Spanish to cater to both protagonists who are Spanish and Indian, hot air balloons, conveniently placed props to benefit the actors in their action sequences, I mean I could go on and on) ace actors being wasted in the roles (Kabir Bedi, Kangana Renaut) and not to mention one too many flashbacks. Nevertheless, the film was beautiful shot in Las Vegas and parts of Mexico and the underwater scenes as well as the soundtrack were magnificent. I should also point out that I watched the Hollywood remix version (yes the film has two versions) which is shorter than the original and geared towards a Western audience.

sshogben "Kites" is a bravely attempted film well worth watching for many unique elements. The occasionally mystifying failures of "Kites" fascinate, as much as its often noteworthy achievements.I wanted to like this film ... .The casting was good and performances excellent. The endlessly gifted Hrithik Roshan is, simply, the best actor of his generation. The mature and even compelling performance he delivers here as a grey character lifts "Kites" to another level. The Mexican costar I'd never heard of before, Barbara Mori, was alright. Kangana Ranaut was even better, as the rather sweet rich girl Mr Roshan's character targets to exploit. Kabir Bedi, as the girl's father whose casino ownership covers mob activities, was very good and could usefully have been given more story in better balance with Nicholas Brown, the brother who served as chief baddie. Special recognition is due Yuri Suri (general Bairam Khan to Mr Roshan's emperor, from "Jodhaa Akbar") for an outstanding performance in a small but critical role as the mobster family's chauffeur.Unfortunately the story – and direction – fail the performances.To understand why "Kites" disappointed at the box office, look no further than the weak ending. After two hours bonding with a film's protagonists and following their troubles an audience expects and has even earned some emotional payoff at the end. Whether positive or negative, the tone of the outcome should mesh with the overall tone of the story. But "Kites" in a sense cheats its audience: its set-up does not justify this particular end.The multiplicity of languages doesn't help. Subtitled English or Hindi dialogue is one thing, but when they start throwing in Spanish, too ... the resulting babel was confusing enough even for someone like me who's used to reading subtitles. What Indian audiences, many of them native speakers of languages other than Hindi perhaps, might have made of this three-language mess I can only imagine.I am not impressed by Anurag Basu's direction. So many of this film's basic story and communication problems could have been fixed simply by unfolding the story strictly from one point-of-view: Jay Ray (Mr Roshan), the central character, so that the audience understands – and where necessary, misunderstands – everything from that one perspective. But when Mr Basu repeatedly has Jay understanding one thing and the audience, through misleading subtitles, something else altogether, the story spins out of control and loses focus.There ARE some truly brilliant moments here. The shadow puppet sequence. The yellow van scene. The champagne-on-the-rooftop 'divorce'. The whole '3 months earlier' sequence introducing Jay's life in Las Vegas – performance, editing, cinematography, musical score – is fantastically effective to establish the character and set tone and mood, climaxing in the mindblowingly powerful 'Fire' – gods, can that man dance! – which leaves the audience totally primed to follow this character anywhere. But Mr Basu's direction is not able to sustain that same energy as the story progresses.I believe Mr Basu's greatest single failure, however, is not convincing us how, why, or even if Jay and Linda love each other. This is fatal, since the whole plot turns on it. When Mr Basu leaves his audience wondering if their love is only situational (i.e., we're-in-this-together-because-people-are-trying-to-kill-us), it undercuts the whole story. Despite the director's repeated and very visual emphasis on the physical perfection of his two stars – bare chest and bikini shots abound – he does not, for instance, have them react to or even much notice each other's character's physicality. And under Mr Basu's hand the misunderstandings and miscommunications between the two central characters, even when quite remarkably funny, come through much more strongly for the audience than anything seeming to draw the purported lovers together. What kind of 'love story' is it, if an audience reasonably has cause to doubt whether the couple could be happy together even if they do get together?Still, a bold and intriguing experiment, well worth watching.In Hollywood this story might have been pitched as "Saturday Night Fever" meets "Thelma and Louise" with narrative structure from "The Hangover". And it ALMOST works.The production values – cinematography, sound, musical score, visual design – of "Kites" are uniformly excellent. The action sequences are well-mounted, even expensively mounted. The outstanding, complex, and challenging performance by Mr Roshan is almost, by itself, enough to raise the film beyond the limitations of Mr Basu's flawed direction.There are great pieces within "Kites" ... even if those pieces do not, in the end, fit together as the same puzzle.

CupcakeLovesMuffin This movie gets four stars, which it deserves. One point for the interesting and vibrant locations, one point for the songs and background music, one for the action scenes, and one for Hrithik Roshan. The introduction of the story is the usual, as you would expect. Set in America, Jay (Hrithik Roshan) is here to make some money, but fails each time he tries. Enter Gina (Kangana Ranaut) who says she loves him, but he turns her down. What he doesn't know is that shes one of the richest people in the city. Stunned at his luck, he goes back and asks her to be his dance partner for the upcoming competition. She agrees, and they become closer. Now, when Gina's dad meets Jay, he asks him to attend his son Tony's engagement, and that is where the story makes some progress. He meets his wife that he married for green card.. Natasha (Barbara Mori) or known as Linda. From there on, its pretty much predictable. The love, the action , everything looks as if its straight out of a Hollywoood movie. Barbara Mori does pretty well, Hrithik Roshan acts well but is just alright, though his dance moves are impressive. Kangana Ranaut is a huge surprise.The PROBLEM with this movie is not the story, but with the way the story is portrayed on screen. If they focused on one thing rather than three, the movie would have worked. There are three main conflicts. Gina and Jay, Tony and Natasha, and of course, their love story. If only one of these was focused on, it might have worked. The ending, is also pathetic. You think to yourself "what the hell is going on" As after you walk out of the movie theater, you realize that ending made no sense at all.Worth watching once.

sree kiran a nice story to tell. but narration failed in parts. dialogs were not audible enough. the lead actors performed for the potential. the movie stressed upon all elements like story , action , revenge , tragedy , etc. but the problem was none was used for full potential. the character of lead actor was too cheap. bank robbery , car chases , building assault , train escape , etc was all good with filled action. the songs were mild and touching with beautiful scenarios. the first number was spectacular and lead actor:s moves were mind blowing. a simple love story with cop chases and silence numbers. not a treat for Indian public. but definitely a watch. plus points: 1. songs2. actionminus points: 1. story which was blank and stale2. climax3. no comedy at all. except some ullu Ki Patti"4. no hot touches from actors for the public appreciation5. cat and dog chase as usual most common nowadays. final verdict: just above average . can take a chance to go.