The recent Indian adventure-romance movie “Kites,” has made history last weekend by becoming the first Bollywood movie to crack the top 10 in the United States and Canada, netting nearly US$1 million in the process. Starring in the film are Indian heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and Mexican telenovela bombshell Barbara Mori as two fugitives forced on the run across the United States to escape an evil Las Vegas casino owner. With Spanish, English, and Hindi cuts, an international cast and action-packed plot, the movie looks to break into Western markets and expose new audiences to the Bollywood industry.
Reliance BIG Pictures, the Indian production, marketing and distribution house responsible for the movie, sent 2,300 prints to theaters in over 60 countries, setting a record for the widest release for a Bollywood movie of whom, 1,800 were distributed to Indian theaters and 500 to screens overseas.
Adding to the film’s hype is a re-cut version edited by American director Brett Ratner set to be released May 28. Ratner, who introduced many Western audiences to Chinese superstar
Jackie Chan through his “Rush Hour” series, trimmed the original movie from 130 minutes to 90 minutes. Ratner’s edits were less concerned with plot and more concerned with the general tone, hoping to bridge a cultural gap between audiences.
According to him, Bollywood movies, gets pushed too far into melodrama. Sometimes that’s because of the dancing, sometimes it’s the performances. And if it’s comedy, it goes very broad.
So I just pulled it back. So, the Ratner edit, officially titled “Kites: The Remix,” will contain no dance sequences.
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