Cine Talk It swings and sways, but never soars

Film: Kites

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, Kabir Bedi, Nick Brown

Director: Anurag Basu

Music: Rajesh Roshan

Producer : Rakesh Roshan

There are one too many strings attached to this film, so that it never really soars to the heights it should - becoming, in the end, a predictable tale of star-crossed lovers. Set in the glittering lights of Las Vegas and the brooding deserts of Mexico, it’s Matchpoint, Bonny and Clyde and much else rolled into one, failing to take off on its own.

The problem with Kites is that it is never truly its own film. The first half constantly takes you back to Woody Allen’s compelling Matchpoint with the doomed quartet of Jai (Hrithik), his girlfriend Gina (Kangana Ranaut), her brother Tony (Nick Brown) and his fiancée Natasha (Barbara).

Life is set to roll for the rakish, down and out Jai with Gina, the fabulously rich, hopelessly-in-love daughter of a Vegas casino owner, until he meets Natasha, the exotic Mexican immigrant also looking out for the good life. The attraction is inevitable - and fatal.

The pull is irresistible. Designer watches, flashy cars and jewels beckon but Jai and Natasha are caught in a relationship that transcends language. She knows no English and he knows no Spanish.

So far so good, before the script decides to meander into a Bonny and Clyde caper with the couple on the run from the powerful Tony, robbing a bank. Completely unnecessary and giving no time for the intensity of the romance to develop.

The narrative moves back and forth in time, beginning with a bloodied Jai tumbling out of a train wagon and

A taut drama of political nemesis

Film: Raajneeti

Cast: Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif

Director: Prakash Jha

In Prakash Jha’s sweeping, damning and definitive look at Indian politics and its power-hungry players, Sarah Thompson is Ranbir Kapoor’s Irish-American girlfriend who suddenly finds herself thrown into the vortex of murky Indian politics.

Jha, known earlier for his deft Devgnhelmed Bihar-centric political thrillers Apaharan and Gangaajal, this time explores the Mahabharata for a look at the way politics in our country governs almost every aspect of existence.

Thompson’s shocked realization of the immoralities of Indian politics cuts across the audiences’ perception of the world bathed in blood and corruption.

Raajneeti has more characters lunging for the ballot box than the popcorn-nibbling stumbling across the desertscape to look for his ladylove. So you get a sense of what is in store. The predictability of the script is not really a problem - the opening line of the film lays the tenor, with Jai in a voiceover telling you that two kites flying together can never soar very high or very long because one has to get cut.

This is a chronicle of a tragedy foretold, much in the way of other epic romances.

It could have worked. The much talked about chemistry between the lead couple is in evidence, but not enough. Director Anurag Basu is at his best in the intimate scenes. Like when Jai looks out of his window to see Natasha being roughed up by Tony and goes to comfort her. There are no words but the shadow play on the wall of their fingers intertwining is romance as it should be.

The soul of true love is there somewhere, but it gets lost in the two-hour film that also brings in murder, torture and gunmen galore. Basu seems lost in the larger macro frame of the film.

The two main characters are not fleshed out enough, and the others around them are like caricatures. How many Bobs (Kabir Bedi as the powerful, ruthless casino owner who does not balk at shooting down cheaters) have we seen, or Tonys, the archetypal jealous boyfriend with an army of goons behind him?

A script doctor was badly needed to stitch up the loose ends - too many loosely scripted scenes and gaps that really should have been filled for a lucid narrative.

But the superb cinematography that has the look of a truly international film, and Rajesh Roshan’s lilting music (Zindagi, zindagi) score as winners.

Barbara Mori also strikes a chord, and she’s a real good looker. But the best for the last - Hrithik Roshan looks better than he has in any other film, and with him dominating virtually every frame, this one is a treat for his fans. Go swoon, if you must.

Minu Jain

audience can keep track of. A taut, clenched drama of devastating nemesis, Raajneeti moves across its epic-inspired canvas with a vigour and velocity that sweep audiences off their feet.

The way Jha captures the parched, dusty, bustling energy of political rallies is impressive. This is no amateurish attempt to yoke the Mahabharata with Indian politics. The truth-defining moments in Raajneeti are truly shattering. The lies that co-writers Anjum Rajabali and Jha’s characters live have ricocheting ramifications.

Jha delves deep into the characters’ conscience to emerge with penetrating insight into the corroded heart of the Indian body-politic.

But his storytelling never touches those nerve-ends in his narration where his characters would have actually expressed what they feel. A sequence like the one where the mother-figure (Nikhila Tirkha) meets her illegitimate son (Ajay Devgn) for the first time is more interesting for its dramatic possibilities than their actual realisation.

The criss-cross of relationships is an intricate tapestry of trust, betrayal, murder and atonement. But no character is allowed ample space to express his or her innermost desires and ambitions.

Katrina’s character, for example, is so underdeveloped that we never know what she really wants to get out of her space in life. The brutality with which she is shoved by the male characters - from rebuffed love to a marriage of political convenience to a widowed political career - is a plot of immense dramatic potential, alas sketchily realized.

We see Jha’s gallery of dynastic politicians in all their ruthless glory. But we never get close enough to them to connect with their lust, greed, pain, anger and hunger.

The squalor and ugliness of Indian politics is put on screen with cutting immediacy. There are interesting side characters, like the ambitious female politician from Sitapur (Shruti Seth) who uses sex for barter, and women newscasters, rallyists and petty politicians played by actors who seem to know the world they are meant to occupy from the fringes.

The trouble with the over-laden plot is that all the major characters clamour to be individualistic. They are unique in their portrayal of political clichés.

What really elevates Raajneeti to the level of a powerful political parable of our times are the performances. Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal and Ajay Devgn get a firm grip over their characters and carry their tumultuous karma to a logical culmination.

Katrina comes into her own in the last 15 minutes. She looks vulnerable and resplendent as a girl forced to put power over her heart. As for Ranbir, he is actually the backbone of Raajneeti. He brings a reined-in, steel-edged ruthlessness to his character. For sure there is no other actor from his generation who could have played this character.

The pair’s goodbye sequence at the end is so deftly handled, you wish there were more moments between the two. Raajneeti is not just a film that opens up the tattered edges of Indian politics. It dares to walk right into the muck with restraint, vigour and some sensitivity.

The film has some outstanding cinematography by Sachin Kumar Krishnan. The camera seems to be looking into places in the characters’ psyche that perhaps even the screenplay isn’t aware of.

Subhash K. Jha