Anurag Basu on Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori’s performances in Kites
Anurag Basu talks about Kites and clears a few questions that people have about the film. Satiate your curiosity from the man who made Kites, himself-the effervescent and modest Anurag Basu
About Spanish and English languages in Kites
The film just took shape naturally. Initially we thought that the film is targeted to the west but then we found out that love, as the subject in the film, speaks no language. It is universal. There was this Spanish girl, Barbara Mori, who didn’t know Hindi and there was Hrithik Roshan who didn’t know Spanish. So we didn’t force any language on anybody. After seeing seventy percent of the film, my producers, Reliance Big Pictures and Rakesh Roshan thought that the film is path breaking because it will appeal to everybody across the globe.
About why Rakesh Roshan choose Anurag Basu to direct the film
Till today I have a question in my mind as to why did he take me as a director for Kites? Rakesh Roshan had seen my film Gangster. During that time, Life In A Metro wasn’t released. He called me and said, “I’ve got a story for Hrithik in mind. I want you to direct it.” At that time, I said, “No.” Knowing Hrithik’s star status, I always wondered why would Hrithik do my film. I was a small director who was busy with an ensemble cast film titled Life In A Metro. Plus, I had also heard that he is doing a Raj Kumar Hirani film, Aditya Chopra’s film, etc. But Rakesh gave me an idea to work on. Then when I met him at the 2007, IIFA Awards in Yorkshire, he told me, “Have you done something about the idea Anurag?” That’s when on the way back to India on the flight I started writing the script. Kites isn’t the usual Film Kraft films which we’re used to seeing. Hrithik took a walk around his hall and instantly said, ‘yes’ to the film.
About the title Kites :
In the film, I needed some metaphor. The title Kites isn’t forced in. There is a saying that kites fly high in the sky, not with the wind but against the wind. Hrithik and Barbara are the kites who are flying high. Their love is unstoppable and they go against the world but there is someone who is controlling these kites. And when they fly too close, there is a risk of losing one. We took the title Kites from one of the dialogues in our film.
About Barbara Mori in the film:
People from the West have their agents and all coming in the way of narration. So when I went to narrate Barbara the script in Los Angeles, I wanted to do it in the traditional Bollywood way. I narrated her the story with my bad Hindi accent mixed with English. But her English was worse than mine (laughs). While looking at her while narrating, I thought she is the best choice for Kites and she said a ‘yes’ immediately after the narration was complete. She had seen my film Gangster before our narration. I tell all my actors not to act. I want them to be themselves and their characters in the film. Barbara Mori doesn’t act either. She is so natural that you will fall in love with her. She doesn’t do any scene or shot if she isn’t convinced. She isn’t a fake.
About Hrithik Roshan’s performance in the film:
As an actor, Hrithik has always played difficult characters. He is very natural. He prepares a lot, reads his script, does his rehearsals and then comes on the sets. For this film, I didn’t want that. I wanted to throw him in the middle of the sea this time with no preparations. I wanted to see what happens if Hrithik is unprepared. It was very difficult. I wanted an imperfect Hrithik in Kites, and he is very good in that. We had a ball. You’ll see a completely new Hrithik in Kites.
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