Hrithik Roshan is going grey for Kites. We are talking about his dark character, not the colour of his hair. In an interview to a trade magazine in Cannes, the actor said about his character, "Five years ago as a Bollywood star you had to be a super hero, the best fighter, dancer and lover, and all of this was attributed to your personal image. Now this is being looked at as being untrue. Now you can be a human being and it is accepted that there are grey areas in human personality."Roshan Jr plays a character called J (yup, just the initial) who is a streetsmart, carefree young guy but who is now on the wanted list. In the harshy terrains of the Mexican desert, he is left to die in the heat of the desert sun. The only thing that keeps him alive is the quest to find the love of his life Natasha (Barbara Mori). She is a woman engaged to another man, but destined for J. She is described as a woman who comes into his life like a bolt of lightning and changes it forever.
Hrithik had admitted during media interactions at the Cannes film festival that Kites which is in English, Hindi and Spanish isn't the typical B-Town film's leading man part. He attributes the change of mindset to the influence of filmmaking from the west. Both the actor and the director Anurag Basu admitted to struggling with getting the film right for an Indian as well as an international audience.
Hrithik also admitted that the fact that Slumdog Millionaire being a success internationally and not in India worried them and had the industry thinking hard about bridging the gap "It shows that it is still a journey for us to learn how to satisfy both an Indian and global audience."
Hrithik also confessed that he was stumped about how to play the role," I did try and go on that journey of acting with an western audience in mind but ultimately I had to throw that out and give an honest performance. I am very loyal to my country and culture and prefer to present the best of that to the world."
Kangana Ranaut missing from Kites publicity stills