In an attempt to make a splash globally, the first look of much hyped film ‘Kites’ was unveiled amid fanfare at the Cannes Film Festival

Two big production houses have joined hands for the high-flying promotional blitz of Hrithik Roshan starrer “Kites” at the 62nd Cannes Film festival.

Kites” is an ambitious international film produced by Rakesh Roshan’s Film Kraft and promoted by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-promoted Big Pictures

The teaser trailer and some key art posters of the film were released before the global media by Hrithik Roshan in the presence of the cast and crew of the film at the festival’s market.

Produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu, the film also stars Mexican actress Barbara Mori. ‘Kites’ is expected to hit the theatres across the world in the last quarter of 2009.
Director Anurag Basu says if the film does well, it would throw global doors open for Indian cinema.

Basu, the maker of such successful films as “Gangster - A Love Story” and “Life in a Metro”, says “Kites” is unlike anything he has made in the past.

“A film like ‘Kites’ has never been attempted in India before. This is our attempt to tap the mainstream international audience and we are hopeful that we will be able to meet this objective,” producer Rakesh Roshan said in a press conference here.

Keeping in mind the international audiences, the producers will release the English language version globally where as in India, they will release the film in Hindi.

In its final form, 70 percent of “Kites”, says Basu, will be in English. Audiences will also hear Hindi and Spanish on the soundtrack.

“We are readying a single version for the whole world. We will not do anything like cutting the songs out from the international version,” he adds.

Basu feels Indian filmmakers have only just woken up to the international potential of their work and much more needs to be done to tap the world market in right earnest.

“When I set out to make ‘Kites’, I wasn’t really thinking of any particular audience. I simply wanted to craft a film that would appeal to Indians as well as people around the world. It’s a fine balance and not very easy to achieve,” Basu told a news agency.
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Although “Kites” has action sequences designed to showcase Hrithik Roshan’s on-screen charisma, Basu asserts it is first and foremost “a love story