Of Coach Carter and Kites!!

This weekend was one of the most hectic weekends ever. But the best point was that I was still able to catch up on two movies I had not seen earlier. The first of the two, the Samuel L. Jackson starrer 2005 film Coach Carter, was an excellent movie. The film is supposedly based on a true story about a Basketball Coach, Ken Carter (Jackson in an amazingly endearing performance), who believes that there is life beyond Basketball for the boys on his team and forces them to sign contracts to achieve a 2.3 / C+ in their studies as a pre-condition to continue on the team. And then when some of them fall short on their goals, he locks out the entire so-far undefeated team from practice and tournaments amid widespread protests and media cry. The boys finally forced to meet their scores make it to the State championship but lose in the opening game. Nevertheless, they do excel in their lives, go to Colleges, earn Scholarships and make respectable Careers.

So much for the synopsis; but, the movie was a time well spent. Not only was it a technically well-made movie with a taut screenplay and near-perfect performances from everyone, I personally liked it because it did, in some way, resonate my viewpoints on education and career. No matter whether you excel in sports, arts or any other area, education is very important. It instills in you a sense of discipline, security and confidence, even though you may not choose to earn a living out of it. The mode with which a person earns one's living is a personal choice and one may choose the path that gives us maximum satisfaction. Satisfaction is important for happiness and one must enjoy and feel passionate about what one does. But, basic education is important and that should not be rejected. And that was what Ken Carter ensured for his team-members.

Coming to Kites, I had heard a lot of negative reviews from people who had watched the same on movie theatres. Personally, I saw it on TV and I found it 'okay' for a TV viewing although I wonder whether a movie that looks 'okay' on TV would look 'bad' on the big screen. If one momentarily forgets the costs involved in the big screen viewing, the effect of a big screen and modern sound systems in movie theatres is such that they make mediocre movies look good. The cinematography is enhanced and the sound systems echo the minutest of the chords. This should generally make a good viewing. But, watching a movie in Theatres involves so high costs nowadays that if people say the movie is not good, they usually only mean that it's not worth the ticket price. For a cheaper price tag, it just might as well been fine. This was for movies in general but Kites is a rather special case in point. For starters, it's not a conventional Hindi movie. In fact, to publicize it as International Version and Hindi Version was a wrong strategy as the so-called Hindi Version hardly has any Hindi dialogues and the only thing Hindi about it is the subtitles. This film should have been publicized as an "International film in Spanish-English with Hindi sub-titles". In that case, it should ideally have worked with a niche audience.

For a brief synopsis, the film is a modern-day rehash of 'Ek duje ke liye' where the male and female protagonists do not speak each other's language and yet fall in love and fight it out to be together. However, the drama of 'Ek duje ke liye' has here been replaced by a thrilling action and fast-paced car chases by including the gangsters in the plot. People say there is no story. There is actually, only it's an old, stale and 100-times-retold one. The screenplay is above-average as it keeps one glued to the screen, not to mention that you just cannot take your eyes off the screen for two more absolutely genuine reasons: (1) Hrithik's chiseled Greek-god looks hold your gaze; and (2) how do you intend to understand the film without READING the sub-titles of the Spanish dialogues which happen to make at least 40-50% of the whole speaking time of the characters. Even Barbara Mori's English is most of the time illegible. The cinematography is top-notch. Watch the breath-taking landscape in the climax scene where Hrithik stands atop a cliff and cries out in pain. Last but not least, the performances were neat with Hrithik excelling in a difficult role. He is undoubtedly the best actor in Industry today and is milestones ahead of all his contemporaries in business. The guy is amazing. He dances like a dream, makes you smile and laugh in the lighter scenes and is so essentially believable in the emotional scenes that the audiences' heart goes out to him. The scene where he tries to send Barbara off with his friend on the pretext of taking her to a hospital is impeccably unforgettable. The look in his eyes, the pain, and the despair – it speaks volumes about what a great actor he is. Even Barbara is good. She complements Hrithik in every scene she shares space with him. Unfortunately, her speech is not clear, even in English and this girl may not find a place in Bollywood in future. Nevertheless, she is refreshingly in form here. The baddie, Nick Brown as Tony Grover, is as menacing as can be and is a fine performer himself. One thing I did not understand is why Kangana Ranaut did this miniscule role. She hardly had 4 scenes and 2 dialogues and is altogether ignored after her beau elopes with her Mexican bhabhi-to-be. Nobody cares to show what the desperately-in-love girl goes through while her brother is chasing all over to kill her boyfriend and his fiancée.

All in all, an entertaining weekend with the heart-warming Coach Carter and the not-SO-disappointing Kites.