AK vs AK (2020 Netflix Film): Bas Kar Bey

The world has moved on but clearly Anurag Kashyap and his coterie have not. Way before one of our most influential leaders (whose followers are known to be bhakts), Kashyap cracked the formula on Twitter by abusing everyone and he could do better, but when it came to delivering Kashyap does not have a great record. Testimony to this fact is this movie (AK vs AK) where talks more about Allwyn Kalicharan, his shelved film than the films that he made.

The basic idea of the film is who is bigger, star or director? To what length can a filmmaker go on to make his film. The basic idea has already been explored in the Hollywood film Bowfinger which was remade in Malayalam as Udayananu Tharam which was remade into Hindi by Anil Kapoor as ShortKut- The con is on. I wonder why Anil wanted to work again in the film with the same genre.

Meta films are nothing new, but they should add substance to the film or story. The running jokes and jibes can last for 5 minutes maybe and there is more sarcasm and wit in Jaiyaxh’s 5-minute video than this film. 

My main problem with the film is it panders to the vanity of Anil Kapoor by claiming that he was or is a huge star. The truth is that he never was one, he and his brother Boney had to try to position him as the next SUPERSTAR after BIG B, well it did not happen. Big B was replaced by SRK, Salman and Aamir. Anil and Mithun just became the next big thing. In fact in trade circles, Anil Kapoor was known as Monday Kapoor and his films never took the opening.

In fact, if you look at Mr India, it was not even a hit in many parts of the nation, while Dance Dance a smaller film did better than Anil’s most known film.  In fact, Nayak – The Real Hero is the only film of Shankar which must have tanked at the box office. As an audience member, I do not know why he is being positioned as a SUPERSTAR. Anil is a competent actor who never could become a star. This might be Anil’s dream to play a star which he could not achieve in real life.

Anurag Kashyap was touted as the next big thing and he has fairly delivered to an extent. But let us be realistic, in terms of taking Indian cinema to the global audience Lijo or Vetrimaaran have done much better than him with fewer resources. After a time it becomes futile when he yaps  on about Allywn Kalicharan, the world has moved on. He himself has made much better films for the world to see. 

If the idea was to create the friction between vanity of star and eccentric filmmaker it does not come across at all. Then there are scenes which are showcased to see how Anil is such a good actor which ends up another vanity. Kashyap is not a great or competent actor and the film clearly falls flat when the focus is on him. 

For a film touted to be a thriller, there is hardly any emergency or tension in the film. We never see the desperation of a father, this is surprising considering Kashyap is a master at it. 

I do miss Vikramaditya Motwane of Udaan, he has shown spark in subsequent films but never reached the initial promise displayed in Udaan. It was the same case with Anurag Kashyap too, I guess we as Indians celebrate something even above average as our standards are lower. 

Even if I look at this film as an experiment it is something that comes in too late and gives me a been there done that feel.