Bollywood’s Language Wars: ‘Razia Sultan’, ‘Agneepath’ And Now ‘Kites’

Hrithik Roshan’s character in Kites speaks English although he is shown to be an Indian who happens to live in Las Vegas. What is baffling the industry people is why producer Rakesh Roshan and director Anurag Basu did not make the character mouth his lines in Hindi? After all, Barbara Mori’s character also stays in Las Vegas but she sticks to Spanish, the language of communication of Mexico from where she has come. In the same way, Hrithik could’ve stuck to speaking in Hindi. At least that way, the film would’ve held more appeal for the Indian audience. The filmmakers would probably put forth the argument that Hrithik has been in Las Vegas since years and, therefore, has adopted English as his language of communication whereas Barbara Mori is new to Las Vegas. But this argument doesn’t hold water for the simple reason that authenticity can’t be at the cost of appeal to the audience. And then, what authenticity is one talking about? How authentic are hardcore commercial films like Kites, in any case? The motive to make Hrithik’s character speak English seems to be just one – to present him like an international star and to make the film appeal to an international audience. But at what cost?