December 24, 2020 1:52:10 pm
AK vs AK airs on Netflix.
Cast of AK vs AK: Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap
AK vs AK director: Vikramaditya Motwane
AK vs AK rating: Two and a half stars
A director ‘flop’. A long-time successful star. And a story that is both real and unreal, taken from the real-life characters of the two main leads: Anurag Kashyap and Anil Kapoor, the ex, sassy, outspoken, movie-mad creator of dark matter; the latter, incredibly fit, still working, still in demand.
An early twist, involving kidnapping and on-camera coercion, needs you to suspend disbelief: could the Kashyap we know really be behind the act? Can Kapoor, always known for his politeness, really be that rude? Or are the two of them playing hyper-hypo-real versions of themselves?
Motwane’s film is not just meta. It’s meta-meta, especially when some parts hit too close to the mark, and some are just tantalizingly off the mark. No one can become a star overnight unless your last name is Kapoor, Anurag smiles, making Anil wince. This line, on the amazing longevity of the Kapoors and Khans, is well known. But we also know that Anil had to work hard to achieve success. And would AK Jr ever say this to AK Sr to his face?
Another major twist, occurring much later in the film, forces us to look back and question our perceptions. Can Anil, who we’ve known as an on-screen hero (a full list of his hit roles unfolds, including the evergreen Lakhan and Munna), be a real-life ‘nayak’?
Any detail of this movie within a movie can be a spoiler. So I’ll just say that I enjoyed most of this mischief, which could easily have been called ‘raat ek baat ki’, or ‘Mumbai raat ki baahon mein’ or any other movie involving a group of people running through the streets. of a city that never sleeps, where anything can happen and where everything has a dreamlike character. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Because that’s where the stars live, and when the stars are on the roads, they belong to the public that adores them. Or wait, are the characters they play the ones we adore?
A sequence that really gave me goosebumps caused Anil to step into the crowd and turn into a chameleon – is it real or is it quite a bummer? He is desperate, looking for someone, almost at the limit of his bonds. But people who recognize him, who have selfie phones, are delighted to be in the presence of his one-two-ka-four-Lakhan. The crowd roars; between them, we glimpse Anurag, looking at him with admiration.
One of the movie’s inside jokes (you’ll have more fun if you’re an industry insider) is based on a movie Anurag wanted to do with Anil that was never made, and look, they’re in a movie together. I’ve always argued that Anurag should perform more: here he is doing Anurag, paired with a tracksuit and a pair of Balenciagas (are they real or fake?), With great joy, and a momentary manic flash. Although I have an objection. The movie should have been sharper – it slides in parts, and you wish Anurag and / or Motwane had screamed ‘cut’, sooner.
Finally, we are left with that perennial question: do actors ever stop acting, even when the cameras stop rolling? At its core, AK vs AK, feels like a secret fanboy fantasy. Anil is propped up, with another ‘Filmfare’ award (this time for the movie that’s in the movie, therefore fictional), and he can wander down a hallway, slow motion, dark glasses in place, every inch a star. The conflict is false, the hero cult is real.
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