AK vs AK is a Netflix film starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, playing themselves as the title characters. The film begins with displaying a celebrity feud between the two “AK’s” that has been boiling for years. The story then kicks in when Kashyap develops an idea for a film/documentary where Kapoor’s daughter Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, needless to say played by herself, is kidnapped on his birthday and he needs to find her before the sunrise of the coming morning. Kapoor’s quest to find his kidnapped daughter will be filmed by Kashyap, and he’ll need to follow a few instructions as laid out by Kashyap. The film runs through Kapoor’s attempts & pursuit trying to fulfil the story/film as devised by Kashyap. But it won’t be a cakewalk as planned with a few surprise curveballs & speed breakers that come along the way.
The story seems rudimentary with a simple kidnapping story unravelling, but it quite far from being a simple kidnaping movie. The movie brings out its distinctive with an unusual display of the story giving a documentary/reality vibe to it. The characters playing themselves feel very candid and take the viewers through a wild ride of making them guess between reality & fiction. Vikramaditya Motwane needs to be commended for his direction which would have taken enormous effort in the attempt to keep the on-screen output as raw as possible. Devising the movie story would have given more than a few headaches to the writers & Anurag Kashyap. Kashyap is initially wobbly with his acting and feels to go out of character, but by the end of the film balances out his early shortcomings and gives a more than satisfactory performance one would expect from a non-actor.
Anil Kapoor the actor of the duo gives a feeling of over acting in many scenes particularly when sharing the screen with his non-actor cast partner, which they do for the huge chunk of the movie. When the story boils up to a point, it spills with a predictable climax. The film could have been shortened with careful thought to a few scenes. The dialogues are kept to seem as authentic as possible but due to the nature of them may upset an older audience.
If I had to give one word to describe the film it would be ‘Unique’, it is a bold production which many would have avoided, but it didn’t stymie Netflix. There is a scarcity of such art films, if it can be called that, in the Indian landscape. It could have backfired but works out well with the creative prowess of both the leads. It is surely not a film that will be the toast of the town for long, but it can pave way for a new era of Indian entertainment, and could be remembered to be a pioneer for that. It is not a must-watch, but I would recommend to not miss out on it if you have chance.
Acting- 8.5
Casting- 9.5
Cinematography- 9
Dialogue- 8
Directing- 9
Editing & Effects- 7.5
Sound & Music- 7.5
Story- 8.5
Storytelling- 9.5
Rating- 8
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