Kites may not fly high!

Produced by Rakesh Roshan’s Filmkraft and Reliance Big Entertainment, Kites was being perceived as one of the year’s most anticipated and expensive films, but it appears to have become a non-experiment. Releasing in English and Hindi, the film created an enormous buzz. However, it has left the trade circuit, the audience and the critics disappointed.
According to critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Kites will get an initial response, but sustaining for a prolonged period will be difficult. “The content doesn’t work for the typical Indian audience. The distributors will suffer losses,” he adds.
Komal Nahta, another tradesmith and critic, is rather optimistic, but is still not sure about the film. “The craze for this film is unbelievable. Though I am not sure about the overseas audience, I am sceptical about its fate in India,” he points out.
Guesstimates are that Reliance Big Entertainment had purchased the film for approximately Rs 85 crore, according to Nahta. However, Vikas Mohan, the editor of the trade magazine Super Cinema, informs that the news in the trade circles was that Kites was sold for Rs 125 crore. “Later the price was reduced by Rs 20 crore, and the film eventually went for Rs 105 crore,” he adds.
According to Mohan, the overseas trade reports of the film aren’t too pleasing either. “Kites is an old story. It seems like a film from the 1960s; and is very slow. Rakesh Roshan was trying to make a modern day Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), but has failed. That movie had a lot to offer. This one is meant for a multiplex audience. They have attempted to make a Hollywood film, not realising that they have seen tonnes of these films and it’s nothing new to them. In the process, even the Indian audiences may be put off,” he rues. “It will be a huge loss for Reliance.”
Disappointment, some more
Brett Ratner’s edited English version, Kites — The Remix —  runs into 90 minutes only. Bharathi Pradhan, the editor of Film Street Journal, returned disappointed. Reason: the film is largely about Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori’s chemistry, which she feels was missing in the film.
“I like Anurag Basu’s cinema. We’re used to Rakesh Roshan’s unexpected twists, but Kites didn’t have any of them. The story is stagnant,” adds Pradhan.
Kites released simultaneously in multiple markets. Speculations are that the release strategy behind the film sent the budget skyrocketing. “With two versions, the prints could have cost them between Rs 40 and Rs 50 crore. The overall price then shoots up to Rs 140 crore, making it the most expensive film ever made in Bollywood,” states Mohan, adding that Kites hopes to sustain throughout the week to recover costs, as against other films that depend more on a heavy weekend opening.

I am not sure about the overseas audience, but I am sceptical about Kites’ fate in India. One goes prepared to watch a Hindi movie, but the movie is in English and Spanish. So, it is as if one prepares for an Algebra paper, but when he reaches the examination hall, he is given a History paper.
 — Komal Nahta, trade analyst and  critic

 Like most big movies, Kites will have a good opening. But the box-office collection will nose dive later in the week. 
—Deepa Gahlot, critic

I don’t think this movie will run because although the story is good, the power in the script is missing.
—Taran Adarsh, trade analyst and  critic