Kites

The film received an 82% positive rating on the film critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes from 22 reviews, with the consensus being, Thoroughly overwrought in true Bollywood fashion, Kites is deeply flawed and too effervescently charming to resist. The movie generally received mixed reviews in India. It had a score of 5/10 on the critics aggregate site Review Gang, based on 13 reviews. The chemistry of the lead actors and the cinematography were specifically praised by Indian critics Anupama Chopra and Raja Sen. Rajeev Masand of IBN said Thrilling action set-pieces, a super-fluid dance number to show off Hrithiks killer moves, and repeated glimpses at the toned bodies of both lead stars.

Its almost enough to forgive the uniformly bad acting of all supporting cast. Anupama Chopra of NDTV said the film doesnt become more than the sum of its parts because the second half is flat and in places, outright foolish. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated, It fails in the primary promise of a love story which surpasses language barriers, while Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express calls it really old wine in a sort-of new bottle. In the U.S.

, Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called it a lovers-on-the-lam blast of pure pulp escapism that caroms from car chase to shootout, from rain dancing to bank robbing with unflagging energy. Its all completely loony, but the stunts are impressive, the photography crisp and the leads so adorably besotted that audiences might as well check their cynicism at the door. Frank Lovece of Film Journal International said, Bollywood enters telenovela territory in a hybrid film that takes the heightened emotions, wild tonal ranges and impeccably crisp technique of modern Hindi cinema and puts all that in the service of a tragic love story straight out of Mexican TV. As an old-style Hollywood romance in modern dress, it delivers what people say they want when they say, They dont make pictures like that anymore. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said the film draws from westerns, musicals, film noir [and] chase thrillers with stunts so preposterous they verge on parody and it gets away with everything because of [director] Basus visual bravura and unstinting passion and energy.