‘Kites’ cracks North American box office top 10
Kites, which released last Friday, opened at No. 5 at the UK box office, and in India, it had the second-biggest opening day ever (behind 3 Idiots, the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, which released last December).
The film—an intercultural love story about two hustlers on the run in the U.S. Southwest—has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from American critics:
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•The New York Times’ Jeanette Catsoulis wrote: “On the whole, American audiences remain stubbornly immune to the charms of the Bollywood romance, a fact that Kites is determined to change. A carefully calibrated assault on resistant international markets, the movie harnesses English, Hindi and Hispanic talent to an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink plot, replaces dancing with explosions, and choreographers with stunt specialists. The result is a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism, so devoted to diversion that you probably won’t even notice the corn.”
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•Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times: “The film is free of both subtlety and irony, and it demands of its charismatic stars, Hrithik Roshan and Bárbara Mori, that they act their hearts out with the utmost sincerity. The result is an exhilarating escapist entertainment that plays out like a violent and floridly poetic allegory.”
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•The Hollywood Reporter’s Lisa Tsering: “What makes the movie pop is a standout performance by Roshan, one of Indian cinema's treasures. Blessed with near-divine good looks and a chiseled form… Roshan anchors the film with a solid, believable performance and a palpable chemistry with his co-star that will remind audiences just how hot a good Bollywood romance can be.”
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•David Chute of The Village Voice: “Roshan is a master at low-keying his enormous charm and shrugging off his blinding handsomeness.”
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•San Francisco Chronicle movie critic Mick LaSalle: “This is opera. This is the big stuff, folks. This is a choir, a drum machine, a synthesizer, a 17-piece orchestra and an echo chamber all screaming ‘Love! Love! Love!’ Go in smirking, but by the time it's over, you'll believe.”
Kites was directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Hrithik’s father, Rakesh Roshan, who made the unusual decision to release the film in two languages in order to broaden its global reach. On May 28, an English version of the film will release in select U.S. cities. American filmmaker Brett Ratner—best-known for his films Red Dragon, the Rush Hour series, and X-Men: The Last Stand—edited the English version to appeal to Western audiences.
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May 23, 2010
