Kites (2010)

82% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
45% of users liked it
(14,193 ratings)

A passionate affair leads to danger and excitement for two young lovers with nothing to lose. J (Hrithik Roshan) was left to die in the Mexican desert. Handsome and resourceful, he's one step ahead of certain death when Natasha (Bárbara Mori) blows into his life like an electrical storm. In a flash,… More A passionate affair leads to danger and excitement for two young lovers with nothing to lose. J (Hrithik Roshan) was left to die in the Mexican desert. Handsome and resourceful, he's one step ahead of certain death when Natasha (Bárbara Mori) blows into his life like an electrical storm. In a flash, he's smitten. Somehow, despite the deep cultural and language barriers that separate them, J and Natasha form a powerful connection. But Natasha is engaged to another man, a powerful figure who's none too pleased that his prize got away, and who would rather see her dead than in the arms of another man. Perhaps if J and Natasha can just manage to escape, they can find a place to start over, and begin a new life together. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 2 hr. 3 min.
Directed By: Anurag Basu
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: May 21, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Feb 15, 2011
Studio: Reliance Big Pictures

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The pulp is served thick, with so much sincerely purple passion it's disarming.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
The result is a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism, so devoted to diversion that you probably wonâ(TM)t even notice the corn.
Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News
Kites morphs into an action picture, complete with unfathomable chase scenes and a Thelma & Louise ending that is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
It tells a simple story -- an almost archetypal story -- but it does so with a lot of passion and technical sophistication.
Bruce Demara, Toronto Star
An intense, exciting and highly entertaining film.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
In its telling, the love story draws from westerns, musicals, film noir, chase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody -- and it gets away with everything because of Basu's visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy.
Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical
a straight-to-video tale that somehow mysteriously managed to find its way to the silver screen.
David Chute, L.A. Weekly
Not even the incoherent mishmash of plot...can entirely dim the appeal of this match-up between a blue-eyed Punjabi and a blue-eyed Mexican of almost equal comeliness.
Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net
Kites is an aromatic, cinematic Indian mutton stew -- if that sounds different from usual movie fare, it is. It's a Bollywood mixture of romance, violence, action, music, and differing cultures and languages. Kites flutters and plummets.
Steven Hyden, AV Club
To anyone versed in Bollywood conventions, it's a natural outgrowth of the genre, and a comically overwrought but still generally fun time.
Nick Schager, Time Out New York
It's a film that proves the concept "overwrought" is the same in every language.
Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine
Often terrible, yet completely engrossing film from Indian director Anurag Basu.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
A lush, lavish Bollywood-meets-Hollywood fantasy, available for viewing in both a shorter and longer version, courtesy of Brett Ratner.
Annlee Ellingson, Moving Pictures Magazine
By the third act, you find the characters and story growing on you and the romance, despite the histrionics, moving.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
Kites is, essentially, a love story. With exploding cars.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Director Basu also has a tendency to backlight scenes, giving them epic, otherworldly glows that become all the more distracting with their increasing predictability.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
A weird fusion of romantic excess, overwrought violence and crudely-staged action, all played to the rafters, filmed in garish colors and accompanied by a bombastic background score.
Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com
There are many words that could be used to describe "Kites" in a review--indeed, even the trusty Oxford English Dictionary almost seems inadequate for such a task--but "boring" is most definitely not one of them.
Ted Fry, Seattle Times
Kites pulls no punches in its histrionic story of love and revenge. It also spares no expense in the telling with the cast of primarily Hindi actors gnashing their way through a beautifully stylish production and several large-scale action set pieces.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

familiar s

The storyline is quite plain & simple, & is served so. The execution is so lame that you'd feel as if you're watching some ordinary love story. I'd rather re-watch Koyla which resembled the plot quite a lot. I can understand if one person had overlooked this… More
The storyline is quite plain & simple, & is served so. The execution is so lame that you'd feel as if you're watching some ordinary love story. I'd rather re-watch Koyla which resembled the plot quite a lot. I can understand if one person had overlooked this matter of hardly existent & barely appealing plot plus the way of telling it. But how come Hrithik, Rakesh Roshan & Anurag Basu, all 3 of them happened to okay this? It surprises me that Rakesh Roshan chose this project as Hrithik's vehicle to present before international audience. But what surprises me even more is the positive response it got from known international (okay, read "Hollywood" if you want to) critics!!! What did they enjoy in this movie? Okay, it was visually great, but that's it. Talking about performances, Hrithik's expressions tend to get repetitious after a point, especially when he's with Barbara. Barbara is the best of the lot. She pulls off her part quite well, and has a pleasant screen presence. Kangana is hardly there. Unlike many, I didn't find Nicholas great either. It's truly disappointing that one of the most awaited films of the year in Bollywood turned out to be a disastrous experience.
Daisy M

Watching this Indian movie Kites, reminds of only one thing, this was like a Bond movie, only in the Indian version.Mostly I am not into Indian movies, but Kites was different it brought a new breeze, the plot maybe usual and cliche and the story was quite melancholic but not… More
Watching this Indian movie Kites, reminds of only one thing, this was like a Bond movie, only in the Indian version.Mostly I am not into Indian movies, but Kites was different it brought a new breeze, the plot maybe usual and cliche and the story was quite melancholic but not excessive.The performances were good and the chemistry perfect. Hrithik Roshan could have been better in some scenes,and Barbara was GORGEOUS and her performance was okay. The director did a great job filming this out India"s conception. There they want some monkey dances and some nonsense romance, with opposition from parents and happy ending. That's why I liked Kites, I think it will take some more years, but they will grow out of it and start making good movies.
Movee C

A love lost in translation yet found though car -flipping exploding passion.
Anoop K

I think Kites would have been a much better movie if the last 30 min of it was drastically different, to make it a more pleasant one. The film takes itself too seriously. A mistake for a film with typical bollywood farce foundation. Not to discredit the cool cinematography, action and… More
I think Kites would have been a much better movie if the last 30 min of it was drastically different, to make it a more pleasant one. The film takes itself too seriously. A mistake for a film with typical bollywood farce foundation. Not to discredit the cool cinematography, action and direction style. And the lead pair is absolutely electric.