Kites (2010): What an Experience

Ok so i always thought all competitions were lies, well that's because after over 15 or so years of entering more than i can count i never win anything, all that changed on Tuesday when i received a phone call saying i was one of the lucky winners picked to attend the London Premiere of kites, i really couldn't believe it, not only did I win tickets but i got front row seats as well, although i didn't get to meet Hrithik or the stars personally, he was feets across me for some minutes and i must say he looks exactly like he does in the movies, the camera ain't lying ladies and gents

The No.1 Tickets in London on Tuesday

Rakesh Roshan addresses the audience

Hrithik was just how i imagined him to be

Bret Ratner who's edited the international version Kites: The Remix

The film's music composer Rajesh Roshan

Rajesh Roshan (The music director) jokes on how the mic is a bit too tall for him

Brief Review of Kites

Kites follows the story of Jai (Hrithik Roshan) a struggling salsa instructor based in Las Vegas who gets married to illegal immigrants for money, he thinks he's hit the big time when he pretends to be in love with wealthy Gina (Kangana Ranaut). Gina introduses him to her father Kabir bedi who lets him know that whoever makes his girl cry would be in for it. He also meets her brother Tony & his fiancee Natasha (Barbara Mori) who happens to be the last illegal immigrant he had married t0 help get a green card. He starts falling in love with her, in fact they both fall for each other but subtlety is not a word for these two, Watch as their romance blossoms and gets them in trouble with Gina's family

What i liked about Kites

1. It felt like 22nd century masala with just the right mix of romance, thriller, action and comedy, it kept me engrossed and at the edge of my seat

2. The chemistry between Hrithik & Barabra was sizzling Hot, i think these two will be cast in yet another film

3. Hrithik shows what he' truly made of, its a one man show here and what a great actor he is plus there's a lot of extra skin show for all you ladies and some of you gents ;0) (If you're a fan no excuses for missing this movie). Great performance from Barbara as well, she's charming, funny and very likable as Natasha in fact everyone in this film is great

4. The songs by Rajesh Roshan, while not following the traditional lip sync accompanied by dance that i love in bollywood films were beautiful and suited the whole ambience of the movie my favourites are 'zindagi do pal ki' and 'dil kyun hai mera'

What i didn't like

Nothing too much apart from the fact that for a film that's going to introduce bollywood to the world i felt it missed the essence of what people expect from bollywood, yes i know its been tailored for an international audience but will people watch this and expect all bollywood films to follow this path, or owing to this films success if it does become a blockbuster will bollywood alter its ways?
I personally love all the things that make bollywood unwatchable for some i.e. the lip synced songs, dance sequences, melodrama etc. It remains to be seen then if this film will indeed bring in the money (internationally) as well as new fans. Anyway, go see this film, its entertaining & thrilling, had i spent £10 watching it at the movies, i wouldn't have regretted it.

Paisa Vasool Rating: 8/10

Khoon Bhari Maang (1988)

While i'm not a huge lover of soap opera's, there's something about over the top, camp '80's dramas like Dallas, Dynasty that i find very interesting. Khoon Bhari Maang (Blood on the head) a remake of the popular '80's Australian series Return to Eden, like the Tv series of the time this movie is high on glamour, fabulous over the top fashion, a sexy villain and over the top drama


Aarti Saxena (Rekha) is a wealthy widow with a scar on her face who lives on a ranch in Sitapur with her two kids kavita and Bobby

When her father's (Saeed Jeffrey) employee Hiralal (Kader Khan) murders him out of greed, Aarti moves down to Bombay to handle the family Business



Then Hiralal, his cousin Sanjay (Kabir Bedi) along with Aarti's best friend Nandini (Sonu Walia) then plot to get their hands on Aarti's millions


Sanjay is introduced to Aarti and slowly he wins over the affection of her kids Kavita and Bobby, this impresses Aarti and she's impressed with the new father figure in her kids life, When Sanjay proposes Aarti accepts

After the marriage they leave for Sitapur alongside Aarti's best friend Nandini, while on a boat ride in Sitapur Sanjay pushes Aarti into a crocodile lake with the intention of killing her and then inheriting her wealth


Sanjay soon starts mistreating the kids and when he tries claiming the property he's told that since Aarti's dead body wasn't found, she can't be confirmed dead, and he would only be able to claim the property if Aarti doesn't show up for 7 years

Aarti surprisingly survives the crocodile attack and is washed up a muddy shore where she is found by a local man who treats her wounds

When Aarti recovers to see her scarred face she's disgusted and promises revenge, Aarti then sells her expensive jewelleries, and then flies out of India

Outside india she consults a plastic Surgeon (Tom Alter) who assures her surgery will eliminate her scars and give her a new look

Thus commends a makeover to put all the reality Tv shows to shame

Aarti is pleased when she discovers her new look, she then returns to Bombay with a vengeance, she goes secretly to her old house and finds her best friend Nandini romancing Sanjay


Aarti realises revenge is best served with a hot dash of glamour, so she applies her blusher, puts on contact lens, paints her nails and wears some fabulous '80's fashion

I love the way she crosses Nandin's face with her lipstick, very '80's soap operaish

She heads to the top Modelling agency and changes her name to Jyoti, she impresses the head of the modelling agency J.D (Shatrugan Sinha) who promises to make her the next big thing thereby succeeding Nandini her best friend


Watch as Aarti now Jyoti topples her best friend from the top of the modelling world (they even have a dance off to see who is the fiercest model)

Watch how she plots her way into Sanjay's heart as Jyoti, will she be able to reclaim her property and her family, watch Khoon Bhari Maang to find out.


I applaud Rakesh Roshan for his direction in this soap opera masala, he did a great job condensing a show that ran for three years into a 2hr 30 mins plus movie,other hollywood Tv movies very similar in theme 'A face to kill for' & 'A face to die for' exists but its the campness & over the top drama of Khoon Bhari Maang i adore the most.

Rekha was fantastic as the femme fatale, she handles her transformation from the 'scarred widow' to the beautiful woman seeking vengeance really well

the moment where she sees her new face for the first time and cries is well acted and very moving (see below) she was awarded the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role

Sonu Walia who had recently won the Miss India pageant at the time was gorgeous and played her role just right, she got the filmfare best supporting actress award

the Beautiful Sonu Walia

Kabir Bedi who plays Sanjay has to be one of the sexiest villains ever, so arrogant, so vile yet so sexy, forget John Abraham in his yellow trunks in Dostana, this hot piece of a man wore a speedo way back then


The fashion of the movie is 'over the top' fabulous and Rekha pulls them off with attitude, while some were over the top, i was impressed to find some of the outfits looked so much like what the fashion icons of our times are wearing (see below)

Supermodel Kate Moss (May 2009) in the gold Head wrap similar to the same one Rekha wears in the movie
Lady Gaga (April 2009) in a shoulder padded blouse similar to one Rekha wears in the movie as well

Pop Star Rihanna (June 2009) in Sunglasses and a giant clutch very similar to Rekha's in the movie

There was some highly hilarious costumes and hairdo's too



The music by Rajesh Roshan suited perfectly, the joyful 'Hanste Hanste', the groovy 'Jeene ke Bahaane Lakhon Mein' & the romantic 'Main Teri Hoon Janam' (my all time favourite bollywood rip off ) which rips off of the 'Chariots of Fire' theme



Total Score: 7/10 ( A highly enjoyable camp drama)
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Nagin (1976)

What do you get when you mix a star cast with fast paced thrilling action, body morphing, catfights, great songs, dodgy special effects, cool jazzy fashions and a femme fatale. The result is a superb movie and Nagin (female Snake) proves just that, this movie is total paisa vaisool (value for money)

The film is based on the myth of snakes who are able to transform into human beings and thus we meet Vijay (Sunil Dutt) who is exploring this matter in the forests when he sees and rescues Nag (Jeetendra) from a vulture about to devour him. Nag is taken by his act of kindness and when he learns Vijay is there to learn about Snakes who are able to take the human form, Nag joyfuly tells him he is one of them and reveals himself and his partner Nagin (Reena Roy) for Vijay to see

Vijay (Sunil Dutt) out of excitement takes his skeptical and unbelieving friends ( A stellar super cast of Feroz Khan, Kabir Bedi, Anil Dhawan & Vinod Mehra) to see the Nagin who just happens to be doing her lovely snake dance after a 100 year wait to mate with her lover

Clockwise from Top Left (Kabir Bedi, Sanjay Khan, Feroz khan, Vinod Mehra & Anil Dhawan)

when her lover descends upon her in snake form, one of Vijay's friends Kiran (Anil Dhawan) shoots it thinking the snake is about to harm Nagin

Vijay scolds him telling him that wasn't just any snake, but her lover, they try to look for the snake to prevent the female lover finding it, they're unsuccessful and when Nagin finds her husband Nag (Jeetendra) the killers are revealed through his photographic eyes, the Nagin then plots to avenge his death by killing them all


Man No.1 on Nagin's list is Kiran (Anil Dhawan) and she charms her way into his hands giving him a sob story, stupid Kiran is taken by her sob story and charm, he takes her home to have a one night stand with her. When they get home she turns the fierceness on and kills him


i love the way their faces go blue when she kills them

Next on her list is Man No.2 Rajesh (Vinod Mehra) she morphs into his girlfriend and then kills him


Upon Rajesh's death his friends are worried and they visit a Healer (Prem Nath) who gives them charms for their protection


Lucky charm

Next on Nagin's list is Man No.3 Uday (Kabir Bedi) This one proves tricky for Nagin as Rajesh has the protecting charm around his neck, but the fierce Nagin cuns him through Morphing into Prema Narayan. After a failed attempt to poison his alcohol she then employs Ranjeet, who grabs the chain from him during a fight, at which she launches her attack


Ranjeet the hot villain

On and on she goes and we are treated to more body morphing, a superb catfight, jazzy 70's outfits, highly venomous snakes, flying snakes and lots of thrilling moments

Snappy '70's Jumpsuit

Who knew snake venom is blue in colour


Will any of the men survive her wrath? Watch Nagin to find out

This is one of the first bollywood films i watched as a kid and the rest as they say is history, Nagin was crazily popular in lots of African countries including Nigeria. What made it popular i believe was the superb storyline, the acting and the great songs. The dodgy special effects (see below), is the only negative thing i'll say of the film, but then it was 1976 when high tech devices wasn't available to most bollywood producers, the direction is on point and there is never a dull moment in this amazing thriller



For the Human to snake transformation the images were shrunk to a very little size and then elongated to snake length

Another great thing about this film is the fierceness Reena Roy brought to the role of Nagin so much attitude, spunkiness and Fierceness in the very sense of the word no actress could have played the role better

Although she's mad with anger about her lover's death, we also see her sad, tearful side which i thought was amazing.

An excellent point the blogger Indiequill notes about this movie is that "during the whole Amitabh Bachchan Angry Young man image which was prevalent in the 1970's, slap bang in the middle comes Nagin proving female animals know better" or as it were know how to bite as well

Below is my Reena Roy picture galore, i love her so much, i couldn't stop taking screen caps

Rekha had a small role but she gives a great performance,I really enjoyed her catfight with Reena Roy(see below)

Watch it below

also having small roles were Yogeeta Bali and Mumtaz

Mumtaz

Yogeeta Bali

The music showcases Laxmikant Pyarelal at their very best, the fun playful "Tera Mera Tera Mera" the tender love song "Tere mere yaarane", a mellow number 'tere ishq ka mujh pe' sang by Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi but my favourite has to be Tere sang pyar mein, the love song between the two snake lovers, two versions are in this movie, one a duet by Lata Mangeshkar & Mahendra Kapoor and a solo with Lata Mangeshkar which features the dancing Nagin at her curviest, fuller self, enjoying every bit of her body (see below)


Total score: 8/10 (Colourful fast paced thriller)

This is definitely one to get on dvd, its also available on youtube with English Subtitles in 16 parts
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A new version of Nagin called Hisss with Mallika Sherawat as the vengeful snake has been made by Jennifer Lynch which is due out later this year (see trailer below). As its the year 2009 and with all the Cgi help available, Nagin gets creepier and scarier and its one of the fims i can't wait to watch this year