People have been writing off Hritik Roshan and Barbara Mori starrer Kites as a kati patang (metaphorically means the ‘fallen one’, literally means kite that got cut) . They don’t realize the vision of Mr. Anurag Basu who under the veil of a clichéd boy girl love story has portrayed a stronger tale of gay love that fears a societal rebuke and hence remains forbidden.
If you haven’t seen the movie, well heres the spoiler – the summary on a superficial level:
Jai (Hritik) teaches dance and also marries women for money to get them green cards. He tries marrying Kangana (Gina) for her money and falls in love with Linda (Barbara) who is marrying Gina’s brother Tony for money too and then true love happens and they run away with half the world after them including evil man Tony and his cronies. True love outlives its lovers. The End.
Years from now, when future generations see this movie, they will understand its true deeper portrayal and thank Mr. Basu for such vision in a society that says its open but still has a million taboo topics.
He uses metaphors and chance encounters to let the sparks fly and lot of read between the lines to convey his true story.
You would probably better appreciate this if you have seen the movie as I say throw up examples and little seen details that can change the complete flavor of this movie. The reason why the movie seems pretty common place is because the detail was paid for the undercurrent story and the rest were just gimmicks. Cutting through the chase, I present my case.
So Hritik marries women only for money and shows no other such interest towards them in LV. Even when Kangana happens, he pushes her away till he realizes she is Bob’s daughter (Bob is the kingpin of LV and more importantly Tony’s father) and then he does a volte face and uses her to get into the household. Once he does, he shares more screen time with Tony than Kangana; never ever showing any interest in her. Hmm… So he used Kangana to get to Tony but alas, Linda has cast her evil charm on Tony and hence Hritik has to now seduce her to get her out of the way. Another quick pointer before we move on that Tony hugs only one person in the movie in a loving manner; yup, u guessed right, it’s Jai. Such a small gesture but it means so much. Soon Tony and Jai are hanging around more often than Gina and Jai., heading out together to Plaza Hotel and Casino (Bob and Tony’s fiefdom).
Jai orchestrates an escapade without telling Tony which obviously infuriates Tony who is the possessive kind and feels Barbara has plotted it and hence goes after the kingpin (politically correct word would be queenpin but my dictionary refuses to accept that). Deep down, it was a master stroke ploy by Jai. He understands Tony needs to get the message so he calls Tony to a secluded parking to tell him they are even (their love is mutual) and should call the chase quits (he needs time to fix things and he will). He also doesn’t skip the chance to get physical with him in the interim. Meanwhile having won over Linda’s confidence, he tells his best friend Robin to take Linda far away while he would nonchalantly go back and turn himself in to Tony.
Fast forward: In the final encounter, Hritik in the final encounter shoots every one point blank except Tony and neither does Tony deem it necessary for retaliation. It has always been people around who took the honor. In Linda’s room, Jai had Tony at gunpoint but Linda knocks Tony out. Tony looks like he’s going to kill Jai but man Friday Jamal intercepts that stand off.
Oh! How could I have forgotten the sizzling chemistry of true love? Tony has his bloodhounds scan every road, hotel, backstreet, nook and corner of Las Vegas coz he has a strong feeling that his Jai is back in Las Vegas. Also if Tony was all so into Barbara, why does he relentlessly search for Jai even after Barbara died in front of his eyes (oh, he forgot to show remorse after that scene. Would have been out of character for the undercurrent story) ? Though like all couples, there is always a possessive streak tending to jealousy and Tony was always worried about Jai losing focus. No wonder he warns him: “She’ll go away from you and you’ll never find her.” (Don’t be a fool, you are not meant to be. You won’t find her but I always am there for you. Otherwise he could have just said you’ll never find us if Tony had plans of getting Barbara back and staying with her)
Yes, the above storyline has as many loopholes as the actual story but no one said it was easy to direct two stories in one frame and full credit to Mr. Basu for attempting such a bold venture. True love outlives its lovers indeed :P :P
PS: If you have heard of sarcasm, well, I was dumped into a cauldron of it as a kid. So grab this review with a pinch of salt and don't read too deep into it coz seriously, the movie is not worth it :)
