Kites grossed over Rs 21 crore on its opening day, but the verdict is that the audiences went to see the film but didn’t like it. The Spanish - Hindi - English love story didn’t jell with the tastes of the masses in India.

The story was not a gripping one. Of course the foreign audience might have a different take on it. Hrithik maintains he tried something different and Kites is the best film of his career.

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Barbara Mori has already created a romantic offscreen and onscreen chemistry with Hrithik Roshan. She is now targeting superstar Shahrukh Khan.

But before she can foray into Bollywood, the model-turned actress needs to brush up her linguistic skills and learn Hindi.

Barbara had to rely on Hrithik and producer Rakesh Roshan to translate questions directed to her by the audience.

When asked if she has signed any new projects the actress replied in negative but added, “I want to work with Shah Rukh Khan.”  

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The party was attended by close friends of both SRK and Gauri Khan. Apart from their close friends like Chunky-Bhavana Pandey, Anurag Basu, Hrithik- Sussane Roshan and Mexican beauty Barbara Mori along with her brother Kintaro.

Shahrukh sang some of his favorite songs, even Susanne Roshan chimed in some tunes. Shahrukh said, “Kites celebration at home… lovely to have seen duggu & team having worked so hard and making an earnest film. I did not know that Sussane sings like a dream…so much talent and such little time to find it.” 

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To the New York Daily News it was ‘An engaging Bollywood tale! Melodrama, romance and action are cheerfully jumbled together .’

‘Kites’ is the most review Bollywood movie by US Critcs. The New York Times considered it ‘all completely loony, but the stunts are impressive, the photography crisp and the leads so adorably besotted that audiences might as well check their cynicism at the door.’

‘A lovers on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism. Directed by Anurag Basu with a finger in every genre jar, ‘Kites’ caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy,’ it said.

In Times’ view Bollywood star ‘Roshan requires viewing uncut: writhing on the dance floor or just gazing into space, the man was made to drive women crazy, one movie at a time.’

Calling it ‘A romantic adventure!’, Los Angeles Times noted ‘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.’ While the movie was seen as ‘An exhilarating escapist entertainment that plays out like a violent and floridly poetic allegory,’ the two top stars got noticed for their looks. ‘Mori has a sultry gorgeousness that at times recalls Ava Gardner. Roshan has the dashing, chiselled looks of a silent movie matinee idol.’

To the New York Daily News it was ‘An engaging Bollywood tale! Melodrama, romance and action are cheerfully jumbled together .’
‘You’ll get more than your money’s worth,’ said Newsday describing it as ‘A boldly old-fashioned, I’ll-die-without-you, nobly self-sacrificing movie romance. Gorgeously photographed. The story is the stuff Old Hollywood tear-jerkers are made of.’

Variety magazine found it ‘Deliriously entertaining!’ The film, it said, ‘owes more to Hollywood than Bollywood, though director Anurag Basu borrows plenty from both, aiming to give Indian song-and-dance pics the same sort of crossover success ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, did for Asian martial-arts movies.’

‘Indian star Hrithik Roshan makes a striking international debut in an ambitious Bollywood crossover film. Grand, action-packed love story set amid the garishness of Las Vegas,’ said The Hollywood Reporter.

”Kites’ flies! Entertaining and lovely to look at! It works perfectly well on its own terms,’ said the Film Journal.
‘Roshan and Mori are as beautiful as human beings can be, and the love they depict is as high-flown as you’ll find in a movie,’ said the San Franciso Chronicle suggesting, ‘Go in smirking, but by the time it’s over, you’ll believe.’

Philadelphia Inquirer found it ‘Preposterously entertaining!’ Chicago Newcity called it ‘a glory of delirium. Anything can, and does, happen. I long for an Amer-Indie movie with the same lunatic verve. As curry-dusted popcorn goes, ‘Kites’ is savoury distraction.’  

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Just hours after the negative feedback started coming in Barbara pretended to be oblivious of what the critics and audiences said. Friday afternoon, the actress spent time visiting multiplexes and theaters across Mumbai to interact with the fans. The fall in excitement level was obvious, Barbara said unconcernedly, “I’m really excited. I’m waiting for the Indian people’s response. The premiere in New York and London was amazing. There were hordes of Indians screaming for Hrithik and me. Let’s see how people here love it.”

When Barbara was informed that the movie wasn’t loved too much, she argued back “It’s a little different from Bollywood films. Kites has got a lot of Hollywood mixed with Mexican culture and then packaged in Bollywood. It’s a different experience,” she argued.

The movie is 90 percent in Spanish and English with hindi subtitles, and Indian audiences aren’t used to reading Hindi sub-titles. Somewhat angrily now, Barbara replied, “The problem IS what the film is about. Kites is about two people who cannot understand each other. She’s from Mexico and doesn’t speak English. He’s from India and he doesn’t speak Spanish. And they fall in love. My brother thinks it is my best film to date. Friends in New York enjoyed it too.”

Barbara now heads for Venezuela to star in her next film. “And then I’m back home in Mexico to produce a play which I’ll be acting in. I really like being on stage,” the actress said. As for the Taj Mahal, she’s hoping to be back in India for another film next year “and then I’ll see the Taj Mahal”.

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