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Source :: Yahoo If Kites does well, Rakesh Roshan might just head the Hollywood way Kites is touted as a mega movie of 2010 and you have two versions to take care of. Is the pressure immense? Of course. We have entered a new territory, which we are not really familiar with. We are working with people from Los Angeles who are helping us out. Why did you entrust Anurag Basu with the direction, when you have dished out blockbusters yourself? During the days when Krissh, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti were nominated, a film called Gangster too was on the list. I then watched the film and loved it. I asked Anurag to cast Hrithik (Roshan) in his film. He was skeptical because he had only done small-budget films. I narrated the story of Kites to him and asked him if he wanted to direct it. He came back in a month with around 30 to 40 scenes. When he narrated the sequence of scenes I was blown over. The final output was better than what I expected it to be. So much has been said and written about Barbara Mori. How did you discover her? The story is that of a Spanish girl who speaks only Spanish and an Indian boy who speaks only English and Hindi. We did not want to cast an Indian actress, because then it would not look real. In LA, I met around two to three actresses, but wasn't convinced. My friend then gave me this Mexican film to watch. And Hrithik, Anurag and I decided to cast her. We wrote to her agency, about our film and her character and send DVDs of our previous films. She wrote back saying, "I will work with you. I like the story and you have a handsome son." But wouldn't a known face be better? Barbara is very big in Latin America. If my movie releases over there, we will have a big revenue from there. How did you convince Brett Ratner to edit your film? Brett watched Kites and loved it. He thought the edit pattern was right for the Indian sensibility. But for the western audience, he wanted to shorten the length and offered to do the job. Is the release going to take place simultaneously all over the world? The Hindi version will release all over the Indian market on the same day. The English version may release one week later in LA, New York, Miami and Dallas. We then have plans of opening it in Latin America, London, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. It is a positive step we have taken and one actually needs guts to do it. The country has been awaiting a Hrithik Roshan release for long. Will this work in your film's favour? Long waits are beneficial. Dilip Kumar saab had once told me, "You can do 25-30 films in two years, or over 30 years and do them perfectly." That has stayed in my mind and Hrithik too is subconsciously following it. Post Kites, are you going to go international or will Krissh 2 take off? Depends on which way Kites goes. If it flies high, then the whole thinking pattern changes and the international market could be an option. But Krissh is somewhere in my system, along with two to three other stories.

Source :: Yahoo

If Kites does well, Rakesh Roshan might just head the Hollywood way


Kites is touted as a mega movie of 2010 and you have two versions to take care of. Is the pressure immense?
Of course. We have entered a new territory, which we are not really familiar with. We are working with people from Los Angeles who are helping us out.

Why did you entrust Anurag Basu with the direction, when you have dished out blockbusters yourself?
During the days when Krissh, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti were nominated, a film called Gangster too was on the list. I then watched the film and loved it. I asked Anurag to cast Hrithik (Roshan) in his film. He was skeptical because he had only done small-budget films. I narrated the story of Kites to him and asked him if he wanted to direct it. He came back in a month with around 30 to 40 scenes. When he narrated the sequence of scenes I was blown over. The final output was better than what I expected it to be.

So much has been said and written about Barbara Mori. How did you discover her?
The story is that of a Spanish girl who speaks only Spanish and an Indian boy who speaks only English and Hindi. We did not want to cast an Indian actress, because then it would not look real. In LA, I met around two to three actresses, but wasn't convinced. My friend then gave me this Mexican film to watch. And Hrithik, Anurag and I decided to cast her. We wrote to her agency, about our film and her character and send DVDs of our previous films. She wrote back saying, "I will work with you. I like the story and you have a handsome son."

But wouldn't a known face be better?
Barbara is very big in Latin America. If my movie releases over there, we will have a big revenue from there.

How did you convince Brett Ratner to edit your film?
Brett watched Kites and loved it. He thought the edit pattern was right for the Indian sensibility. But for the western audience, he wanted to shorten the length and offered to do the job.

Is the release going to take place simultaneously all over the world?
The Hindi version will release all over the Indian market on the same day. The English version may release one week later in LA, New York, Miami and Dallas. We then have plans of opening it in Latin America, London, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. It is a positive step we have taken and one actually needs guts to do it.

The country has been awaiting a Hrithik Roshan release for long. Will this work in your film's favour?
Long waits are beneficial. Dilip Kumar saab had once told me, "You can do 25-30 films in two years, or over 30 years and do them perfectly." That has stayed in my mind and Hrithik too is subconsciously following it.

Post Kites, are you going to go international or will Krissh 2 take off?
Depends on which way Kites goes. If it flies high, then the whole thinking pattern changes and the international market could be an option. But Krissh is somewhere in my system, along with two to three other stories.