Maggie Noodle Review - Kites

Ten years ago Rakesh Roshan launched his son Hrithik in a movie that was tailormade to showcase all the actor's assets. Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai successfully launched a phenomenon. Unlike most other star-sons, Hrithik did have the talent to justify the launch. A few days ago, Hrithik's career was relaunched, this time aimed across the Atlantic with Hollywood firmly in its sights.

Kites is a Hindi movie that tries very hard to be something different, all the while placing Hrithik front and center. The only time the camera even seems to go away from him is to showcase Bárbara Mori, a Mexican actress, in agonizingly long and drawn out slow motion scenes. Hrithik exudes a lot of energy but tries too hard. Odd as this may sound, Hrithik needs to watch a few Sharat Saxena movies before facing the camera again.

Hrithik has worked hard on building a muscular body and spends most of the movie displaying that. The director, Anurag Bose, probably believes in equal opportunity so the heroine is not left behind either. Along the way, however, all of them forgot that eye candy can only take you so far. The storyline is actually a pretty interesting one (not original but interesting) that could have been exploited a lot better. Instead, after a fairly decent first half hour, it degenerates into a loooooooooooong commercial for Hrithik, full of suspense-killing slow motion that telegraphs the plot twists minutes before they should.

It may have helped if the supporting cast featured better actors. I am told that Kangana Ranaut is a good actress but I will have to wait for a different movie to evaluate her. Kabir Bedi is wasted in a small role while the guy that plays his son (I am not interested in trying to find out what his name is) is atrocious. On top of his awful acting, the fellow is saddled with a whole slew of terrible scenes that would make a seasoned actor cringe.

Pardon the pun, but this Kite should have been reeled in a long time ago.

(Memo to Indian movie-makers: If you are going to film scenes in an American setting it would be a good idea to read up on some of the laws and rules of the country before portraying the cops in the movies as being no different than in Hindi movies. This is especially true if your ultimate intended audience is an American one.

Hrithik: Muscular, good-looking guys who are also good dancers are dime a dozen in Hollywood. I would not make that my MO if I were you. You have considerable acting chops. Focus on showcasing that before you lose your shirt. (Forget my note on Sharat Saxena...take a look at Chiranjeevi's first Hindi movie - Pratibandh. For a fellow whose calling card in Telugu movies was his dancing ability, he very smartly chose a strong story to showcase his acting talents and did not have a single dance number in the movie. After Pratibandh became a big hit, he showed his other skills in Aaj Ka Goonda Raj. Now, that was a smarter way of trying to make a first impression).