BOLLYWOOD heart-throb Hrithik Roshan, off cinema screens for the past two years, has high hopes for his new film Kites which also carries weighty industry expectations after a poor start to 2010.
Roshan, 36, has not been seen in a starring role since 2008, when he appeared alongside the former Miss World and model Aishwarya Rai in Jodhaa Akbar, a love story about the Mughal emperor Akbar and his Hindu wife, Jodhaa.
Kites, to be released in India and 35 other countries tomorrow, is a romantic drama about a fugitive left for dead in the Mexican desert, who meets the love of his life – and goes on the run across the US.
“I have given more than two years of my life to this film and I am hoping that people accept me in this film,” said Roshan, whose chiselled good looks make him one of Bollywood’s most recognisable and talked-about stars.
Kites has become the most anticipated Hindi film this year, given the lack of other movies to make an impact at the box office other than the recent comedy Housefull.
The lacklustre start to 2010 follows a disappointing 2009, which saw total Indian cinema revenues fall 14 per cent after a producers’ boycott of multiplex venues, swine flu fears and a string of big-budget flops.
Roshan promised Kites would be different in terms of size and content.
“The scale of this film is huge and Indian audiences have never seen anything like it here,” he said.
Distributors Reliance Big Pictures said on Monday (May 17) that the film, which has been aggressively marketed, would be shown on 500 screens outside India – making it the biggest ever worldwide release of an Indian film.
The film’s international appeal is being touted as a big draw, not least its co-star Barbara Mori, a Latin American actress whose presence has raised hopes that Bollywood can make inroads into the untapped Spanish-speaking market.
Two versions of the film have been made – a 130-minute Hindi edit and a shorter, 90-minute one in English, with the trademark Bollywood song and dance routines cut and apparently replaced with steamier scenes.
