Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangna Ranaut starrer mega- budget flick ‘Kites’, which released last Friday in India and all over the world as a Hindi film, is facing trouble in Bihar as its distributor Gopal Bhartiya has threatened to go to court over the use of English and Spanish languages by Hrithik and Barbara Mori during their conversation in the film.
The distributor accused the makers Reliance Big Pictures and Rakesh Roshan of taking him for a ride by selling the flick as a Hindi feature when they knew that it had mostly English and Spanish dialogues between the lead players.
Gopal’s grouse is that in Bihar, where people do not understand even English, Spanish was the last thing that he needed to lose the collections at the theatres. In fact, the collections for the ‘Kites’ has been dismal in Bihar and Bengal territories due to excessive use of English and Spanish languages.
Bhartiya feels that if only Barbara Mori had spoken in Spanish that would not have created much of a problem as the audiences knew her to be a foreigner, but Hrithik speaking in English, tilted the balance against the flick at the box office. Govind Bhartiya had even come to Mumbai to discuss this problem with Kamal Gyanchandani of Reliance and was assured of a monetary compensation in the matter.
The Bihar distributor Govind Bhartiya even questioned the wisdom of Censor board in giving the film a certificate that it was a Hindi film, when in fact it was an English-Spanish flick.
On the other hand, Kamal Gyanchandani of Reliance Big Pictures played it cool and emphasized the need to wait for some more days to assess the impact of English-Spanish languages in the film at the box office.
The insiders reveal that the problem in Bihar and interiors of the country was genuine and the use of English and Spanish words by Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori would certainly affect the collections as most people in these areas were not literate or well versed with the foreign language.
As Hrithik Roshan is a big star in India with reputation of big hit films like ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Krishh’, the distributor bought the film on that basis. But ‘Kites’ was a completely different fare and hoi polloi in the interiors were not able to connect with the intense romantic love story between Hrithik and Barbara.
Though the excessive use of English and Spanish words by Hrithik and Barbara Mori might have created problems at the box office in India but it is also true that because of this factor the movie has been doing rocking business in the UK, US and other countries.
For instance, it opened in the UK at number five, while in the US it was at number ten among top ten movies at the weekend. Even Hollywood trade papers like ‘Variety’ and ‘Hollywood Reporter’ showed interest in the film due to this.
Now, ‘Kites’ makers are all set to release the English version ‘Kites: The Remix’ on May 28, which is mainly aimed at the international audiences. This version is being presented by Brett Ratner of ‘Rush Hour’ fame.