4 Very Good

Soothing breeze is blowing; romance is in the air and two fluttering kites get entangled with each other…and while doing so, they tie up the viewers as well, taking them in swings of varying emotions. The credit goes to none other than the one who is flying these kites; the director of this latest outing by the Roshans.
I have always believed that the most important factor in making a movie memorable or forgettable, is the direction of the movie. Many times, we have seen brilliant scripts being wasted because of lose direction and on the other we have seen strictly mediocre scripts being transformed into movies that are really worth watching. “Kites” belongs to the later, where director Anurag Basu gets a script which is, to the max, an average material with a lot of borrowings from various movies from both Bollywood and Hollywood. Yet while watching the film, one gets a fresh and unique effect radiating frame after frame. This is only because of Anurag’s brilliant vision and his ability to transform it on the screen.
The second force which comes ahead to compliment Anurag’s finesse is the performance of the lead pair. Hrithik Roshan captivates in each frame, and this captivity is not limited to his attractive physique, rather he drowns himself in his character and delivers a performance which re-establishes his immense talent and charisma. He, in a true sense, carries the film on his strong shoulders. He is as brilliant in the light moments, as he is in the intense ones. Barbara Mori, though looks awkward in few scenes, delivers an indulged performance. She uses her accent and her beautiful smile to the full affect.
The third rescue force is the cinematography. Each frame pulls you to its core. Grand yet innocent; spectacular yet simple. It is beautifully tender in the romantic scenes, whereas handsomely striking in the actions sequences.
On the flip side, Except for the lead pair, the characters are half-baked and insignificant. Specially the characters of Kangana and Kabir Bedi. These roles could’ve been acted by any B grade artists with similar effectiveness. It doesn’t mean the actors were bad, they just didn’t have any support from the script. Tony (the villian’s) character was also not properly elaborated.
In spite of the brilliance of the movie, yet there are two factors which will work as a hurdle in attaining the success it deserves. First being the abundance of English and Spanish. Though I personally feel that it would’ve looked extremely artificial if Barbara’s character started speaking Hindi or Hrikthik started speaking Spanish. I believe this brings an authenticity in the movie, yet I know that this will displease the crowds.
Second hurdle would be the climax of the movie, which might disappoint many. Though beautifully directed and performed, yet it leaves the viewer with a gloomy feeling, which might reduce the amount of pleasant words about the film.
Despite these commercial hurdles, I really believe that “Kites” is a pretty decent love story to hit the cinemas after quite a while.
Though I know the “Kites” might not fly as high as I wish they could, yet I am glad that I chose to watch them sway and flutter in the sky.