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Superstar Hrithik Roshan and his co-star, Bollywood newcomer Barbara Modi, were in Manhattan this weekend to promote their much-anticipated new film. Kites, which had its star-studded New York premiere on Sunday, is the story of a wanted man who is on a quest to find his one true love. With dialogue in Hindi, English and Spanish, and a story that takes the protagonist on an adventure through Mexico, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the film, according to Roshan, is unlike anything he’s done before.
Roshan says that he always knew his film Kites was special. “I just knew at the time there was just a destiny for this film,” Roshan explained.
He reflected, “I think that whatever you create, it is just a reflection of who you are.”
Wearing jeans and a leather jacket over a red shirt, Roshan and his co-star Barbara Modi were in good spirits when they met with reporters on Friday. The Ecuadorian-born Modi, who looked dashing in a sleeveless black blouse with white ruffles and a black skirt, said she loved the script. “I got touched by the story,” she said. “Two human beings who fall in love even though they don’t speak the same language.”
She noted, “it’s my first English movie, my first action movie, my first Bollywood movie, and big budget movie so there’s a difference between this movie and what I have done before.” Referring to her fan base in her adopted country of Mexico she said, “I think they will love it because in Mexico we love action and love stories and I think Kites has a little bit of everything.”
Modi, who spoke little English at the start of filming, seemed comfortable conversing in the language. Roshan was solicitous of her opinion throughout, often pausing to ask his costar’s opinion and nodding and interjecting supportive words throughout.
“My job is a little overrated, because I just captured their on-screen chemistry,” director Anurag Basu said of his two stars.
Like most of Roshan’s films in recent years, Kites was very much a family affair. His father Rakesh Roshan is the movie’s producer and his uncle Rajesh Roshan composed the music. Rakesh Roshan was quick to say that he took care not to step on the toes of the film’s director, Anurag Basu. “I am also a film maker, so I know what a film maker requires… I said [to Anurag] I am behind you like a rock.”
Rakesh also spoke about his and Hrithik’s working relationship. “It is not difficult [to work with him] at all. He’s the one who just gives himself to the director.”
He continued, “When we are home, we are like father and son. The moment we are on set, he is an actor to me.”
Rajesh Roshan concurred, saying it was quite easy to work as a family. “What I am thinking he [Rakesh] is thinking, what he is thinking. It’s like sailing in the same boat.”
The film’s soundtrack features a notable first- the debut of Hrithik Roshan’s singing career with the song “Kites in the Sky”. “Hrithik has worked very hard, it is a very hard song to sing,” noted Rajesh Roshan as he described preparing Hrithik for the track, which he described as beautiful.
One unusual and somewhat controversial fact about the film, is the fact that there are two versions of the film being released. While the Indian version is directed by Basu, the international “remix” of the film was cut by American filmmaker Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men:The Last Stand) “The international version is the same film, but some sequences are cut differently,” Rakesh Roshan explained.
“I wanted to go global. Korea has made it [in the international market], China has made it. India is left behind. I thought, let me make a global film.”
Basu, the director, agreed. “In India everything else is becoming global, why not cinema?”
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