New York gives 'Kites' a thumbs up

Pounding bhangra beats resonated across neon-lit Times Square, nicknamed The Crossroads of the World, as a gleaming stretch limo delivered Hrithik Roshan and his co-star, Mexican actress Barbara Mori, to the red-carpet premiere of the Hindi version of Kites.

The Kites stars were fashionably late for the screening at the AMC Empire in Time Square, but the crowds had enough distractions — Karan Johar in a black bandhgala, director Mira Nair in a flowing kurta and other film royalty. “Two and a half years of blood and sweat, two and a half years of heart and soul finally boils down to two and a half hours of entertainment,” mused Hrithik Roshan, as the lights were dimmed for the screening of Kites, made at Rs150 crore.

The stunt-filled movie was a physical challenge for Roshan who arrived on the sets of Kites in Santa Fe two weeks after he had a knee operation in Los Angeles. The hobbled actor had to ditch his regular gym workouts and said he was nerve-wracked about taking his shirt off in a love-making scene. “I was basically living on egg whites, almonds and peanuts because I had just three weeks (to do the bare-chest scene) and all those days I was shooting and I couldn’t work-out on the sets,” said Roshan.

Roshan needn’t worry as the New York audience on Sunday night which saw Kites rhapsodised about his designer stubble, manly torso and fluid salsa dance moves.

If you’re looking for proof that globalisation is transforming the Bollywood film business, look no further than Kites. There are two versions of the Bollywood film produced by Rakesh Roshan and distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures. On Sunday night, the audience in New York saw the 130-minute Hindi version with song-and-dance and a smattering of Spanish and English. There is a crisper 90-minute English version titled Kites: The Remix edited to suit Western sensibilities by Hollywood director Brett Ratner, releasing on May 28.

Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance BIG Pictures, said the film will establish new audiences for Bollywood; “Kites is going to get the biggest global screening of any Bollywood movie. It will play on 2,300 screens worldwide in 60 countries.” The movie is slated for Indian and world release on May 21.

“Kites should resonate with Mexican audiences because Barbabra Mori is a popular Mexican telenovela actress. The part of the film which segues into Mexico will have a big appeal. Mexicans love foreigners embracing their culture and will love Hrithik Roshan dressed as a groom in the traditional Mariachi outfit,” said Mexican Myrna Moncayo, director, corporate development, Tribeca Enterprises, which runs New York’s annual Tribeca Film Festival.

Myrna herself is married to an Indian management consultant so she finds nothing far-fetched in the film’s premise — a passionate love story between a Mexican woman and an Indian man. Others say the road movie with hints of Thelma & Louise will sell tickets with its high speed car chases. Both Mori and Roshan did their own stunts which included leaping from cars, hanging from a racing truck and shimming up a rope into a hot air balloon.