{"id":6172,"date":"2010-05-19T15:26:51","date_gmt":"2010-05-19T20:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=6172"},"modified":"2010-05-20T09:54:04","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T14:54:04","slug":"heres_to_you_ra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/19\/heres_to_you_ra\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s to You, Rabid Hrithik Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, I left the City of Brotherly Love for NYC for the press conference surrounding the May 21st release of Kites<\/a><\/em>, the Bollywood film directed by Anurag Basu, produced by Rakesh Roshan and starring his son, teen hearthrob Hrithik Roshan<\/a>. Disclaimer: I am no Hrithik fan. When I was a freshman in high school, both the girls and the guys my age were going gaga over Hrithik’s debut in Kaho Naa… Pyar Hai<\/em>, but he doesn’t do it for me, never did. Sorry. But in deference to all you Hrithik fans who have been hounding me for this post, I will share all the details from Friday via the notes I took in timeline form. And don’t forget, I’ll be posting my review for Kites<\/em> on Friday!<\/p>\n\n

First, a brief synopsis of the 130 min. film (the American version is 90 min, stripped down a la American director Brett Ratner<\/a>). Kites<\/em> stars Hrithik as J., a hustler\/dance teacher working in Las Vegas. He is pursuing the affections of Gina, daughter of a wealthy casino owner and one of J.’s dance student. At the same time Gina’s brother, Tony is engaged to Natasha (played by Mexican telenovela actress Barbara Mori<\/a>). When J. and Natasha’s paths cross, sparks fly. Cars crash. People dance in the rain. Or something like that. (If you think this sounds like the plot of some Mills and Boon dime novel, well then you’ve clearly never seen a Bollywood film.) <\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n\n

4:15PM<\/strong> I walk past the haute couture on Madison Avenue in NYC to enter the Four Seasons Hotel, where the conference takes place. I wander around the lobby for a while, trying to find the elevator. Pass clusters of anxious-looking young desi girls who peer at me, hoping I know something about Hrithik’s whereabouts.<\/p>\n\n

4:30PM<\/strong> Head to the lounge on the 5th floor where reporters from all over are setting up camp. Start live-tweeting on SM’s new Twitter account, @sm_live<\/a>. Meet two Twitter friends, @filmigirl<\/a> and @LakshmiGandh<\/a>i, who are also covering conference.<\/p>\n\n

4:45PM<\/strong> Messing about with camera in hallway when Rakesh Roshan and Anurag Basu come by. Some of the journo folks stop him so they can have their pictures taken with them. Anurag Basu is quite tall and wearing a white half-sleeved button-down shirt. Rakesh leaves but not before ordering a chicken sandwich from room service.<\/p>\n\n

5:15PM<\/strong> Led into a conference room with about six other reporters. Thirty-five year old director Anurag Basu <\/a>comes in and sits at the table, directly across from me. He has since changed to a long-sleeved black button down. He is hearty and jovial. He gamely answers questions about his childhood in India, where he grew up in a small town. “I can count on two hands the number of films I saw growing up,” he recalls. He repeatedly emphasizes that at heart, he is more of a storyteller than a director. “I would not make a film that would not do well in my own town.” His thoughts on working with Hrithik? “He wanted to do everything [the stunts] himself – unnecessarily. I would go and check his knees every five minutes. He takes everything too seriously.”<\/p>\n\n

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On Bollywood newbie Barbara Mori? “I like Spanish girls. That is my weakness.” On filming in Vegas, “I was hungover every morning that we shot in Vegas. Those were the best scenes.” On working on his first big-budget film? “We say that we are becoming global – but our global audiences are just NRI audiences – we are not truly global. This film is global.” His favorite film director? Rajkumar Hirani<\/a>. Finally, we quiz him about the reported kissing scene in the movie. His thoughts? “I don’t know how you can make a romantic film w\/o a kissing scene? How can you fall in love with a girl without kissing her?” You listening, Censor Board?<\/p>\n\n

\"IMG_2386.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n

5:35PM<\/strong> After a five-minute interval, we hear a rustle and Hrithik comes in, flanked by two bodyguards. One reporter tries to take a picture before being shooed away by the bodyguards, who then leave. It takes me a moment to recognize Mori, who looks like a bored pre-teen or some sulky reporter in her short olive-green skirt and black wrap-around sandals. It’s only when she sits down and whispers to Hrithik that I realize it is the Kites Heroine. She slouches down in her chair and leans back while Hrithik makes pleasantries, politely agreeing to keep an eye on someone’s tape recorder. He is deferential and respectful, directing questions to Mori whenever possible. He also clarifies her answers when her accents makes it difficult for folks (including myself) to understand her. She shows us her tattoos, including the small kite tattoo on her left wrist, which apparently the entire cast, including Hrithik and Basu also had done in Vegas. (“It was a bonding moment,” said Basu.)<\/p>\n\n

Hrithik on Kites: “I was a little depressed at that time, I was contemplating changing my profession and doing something else. Then came Kites. The vision was so strong. I could see my face on the character.”<\/p>\n\n

Barbara: “Coming in, I didn’t know anything about Bollywood, but I started watching films. I watched Hrithik’s films, my favorite was Lakshya<\/a>. The culture is so different, we don’t do dancing in Mexico and all that was really new for me.”<\/p>\n\n

Hrithik: “I’ve done 14 films in 10 years, every film has been a stepping stone towards my magical light. I’m just following this magical light that I know exists.” Huh?<\/p>\n\n

Barbara on cancer<\/a>: “I had cancer when I was 29 and I was contacted by a producer from India. Everyone in the film is talking about their own story. I hoping that by sharing my own story, it will make young women more conscious, encourage them to visit their doctor. Early detection is so important.”<\/p>\n\n

6:15PM<\/strong>: Rakesh Roshan comes in with his brother, Rajesh Roshan, who does the music for the film. The crowd of reporters in the conference room with me hushes.<\/p>\n\n

Rakesh on working with Basu: “I saw Basu’s film Gangster and I was completely bowled over by the film. I called up Anurag right then and there, he came over in two hours later. I said you’ve done a fantastic job, you know what films are about. I called you for one reason. I would like Hrithik to work with you.”<\/p>\n\n

On filmmaking in general: “I always take on subjects which challenge me and give me sleepless nights.” I ponder the significance of salsa dancing in the context of things. Huh?<\/p>\n\n

On Hrithik and Hollywood: “My intention was only to show globally how good Hrithik is, although he was getting a lot of offers from Hollywood before, but nothing exciting. If he gets one from Hollywood that excites him now, maybe he’ll consider it…”<\/p>\n\n

Rajesh on having the majority of his soundtrack cut from the American version of the film: “You can look at my face, it speaks volumes. My face shows a broken heart.”<\/p>\n\n

At the end of the conference, half of the reporters clap for the brothers as they leave. The crowd disperses. In the hallway, the photographers are upset because Hrithik has already left.<\/p>\n\n

End scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday, I left the City of Brotherly Love for NYC for the press conference surrounding the May 21st release of Kites, the Bollywood film directed by Anurag Basu, produced by Rakesh Roshan and starring his son, teen hearthrob Hrithik … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}