AK vs AK (2020) is a dark comedy that is of a type not seen often in Bollywood. The film is available on Netflix. It makes fun of one of Hindi cinema’s popular heroes Anil Kapoor, how at the age 64, though physically fit he shouldn’t be acting as the lead anymore and choose age-appropriate roles. The film also pokes fun at the craziness of one of the most regarded directors Anurag Kashyap, who the Tamil audience have seen in Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018). How these two AK’s settle their old animosity is the story.

Anurag Kashyap carries the wound of Anil Kapoor turning him down twenty years back when the former was an unproven director and the latter a superstar. In an onstage interview, in a moment of rage, Anurag throws a glass of water at Anil and this causes Anurag to be ostracized by the entire film industry. To take revenge Anurag kidnaps Sonam Kapoor, the daughter of Anil and he has only a few hours to rescue her. During the whole night, Anil runs from pillar to post to save his daughter. Did he save her?

I am giving a Ripe rating just for the excellent acting by both the AK’s. Though AK vs AK is a better attempt than SRK’s Fan (2016) by Bollywood in examining itself, the screenplay should have been tighter and sharp. Too much time is wasted on Anil running from one place to another for no obvious reason, at many places we are made to remember that this is all make-belief and scripted. Still, it is rare to see a glimpse into the lives of stardom and for that AK vs AK deserves its rating.

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