Cast: Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Yogita Bihan, Sonam Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Rating: ****

Anurag Kashyap is regarded as an auteur and is credited for pioneering India's indie scene in the early 2000s. It's been 20 years now, and within this time period, Anurag has brought some unrealistic projects and introduced a sense of filmmaking that makes him India's Tarantino. Well, the maker is calling himself Tarantino and creator of Wasseypur in the latest Netflix's release 'AK Vs AK'. In which finally after a long wait, Anil gives his precious dates to the maker and acts after rejecting Kashyap's dream project Allwyn Kalicharan back in 2003. With a roller coaster ride and sarcastically written dialogues, the film follows Anurag's revenge on Anil Kapoor who kidnaps Sonam Kapoor and shoots the entire act of searching with his camera assistant.

AK Vs AK starts with a disclaimer, 'This film is a work of fiction and resemblance to any person, place, location, and the event is purely coincidental and unintentional and takes us to once upon a time in Bollywood where Anurag is accompanied by his camera assistant Yogita (Yogita Bihani). Anurag meets Anil Kapoor where Anil sarcastically talks about Anurag's own paparazzi in Yogita's form. Applauding himself, Anurag consequently says, 'Mere Badh Toh Kya Hi Karoge Mere Bad Toh Sab Gobar Ha'. Agreeing with his point, Anil requests him to make a film altogether and pointing to the previously rejected film by Anil, Grant Hotel, Allwyn Kalicharan, Anurag denies his offer.

The scene cuts to a chit chat event where both celebrities mock each other works whether it's about Anil calling Shameless to his own self, remembering Mashaal, winning best supporting actor for the film or Anurag's hilariously digging at millennials children hinting on nepotism with a dialogue, 'You can't work in the industry until you are a Kapoor'. Well, their debate takes a high peak when they both start arguing on who runs a film, Actor or director? Being irrelevant and invisible, or taunting on 'My Name is Lakhan' or throwing water glass on Anil, their high-class fight turned into a media sensation.

And the hilarious part is the media trail of the controversy was where news report call Anurag's act, 'Kashyap Ne Machaya Bawal, Pani Se Lagi Aag, Varisht Nagrik P Huya Hamla, Pani Bana Teejab or Kashyap Hai Pagal with a wicked laugh on the drop back, Vikramaditya Motwane has farcical portrayed the entire media trial. The film chronically commends the matter when Anil Kapoor rejects Anurag's dream project Allywyn Kalicharan and how Anurag can't forget that event and how he was banned by his close friends and film industry.

After the entire controversy, Anurag decided with his camera assistant Yogita to go and meet Anil on the film set where he is shooting for his upcoming film based on an Indian Air Force officer. After waiting a long time when Anil is all set to celebrate his birthday with his family, Anurag finally meets him and tells him that his daughter Sonam Kapoor is kidnapped and if he doesn't cooperate with him in filming the realistic film, where Anil has to find his abducted daughter then things might get awful.

After Anurag's shows Sonam's kidnapping clips, Anil Kapoor's exasperations are enough to take the abduction trail to the next level. Anurag, his camera assistant, chases Anil Kapoor to the various places where Sonam was last seen. The entertaining romp takes us on a visit to Anil's milieu environment and we as an audience have a look at the actor's opulent mansion. Overall the film is all about filming a film within a film. A film with such a realistic filming pattern and the film's climax is nerve-wracking for Anurag's fans.

There was a dialogue, where Anurag refers to his project as 'the first realistic film with a superstar not directed by Shyam Benegal'. Well, this mockumentary is not by Shyam Benegal but by Vikramaditya Motwane. Here in AK Vs AK, Motwane's direction and camera angle make this film more realistic. Whether it was Anil's spills of water on Anurag's shoes, and the latter splashes a glass full of water on Kapoor's face makes the entire incident more relevant. There are several shots where Motwane has worked deeply and in order to make the film more pragmatic.

The protagonists of Anurag's films often deal with excessive drug, smoke or alcohol consumption, personal guilt, extreme rage and arrogance which leads them into self-shattering situations. Most of his films deal with realistic scenarios and take clues from real incidents, well here Anurag and worked with Motwane to bring an entertainment dose for his fans. Although, in AK Vs AK, Anurag himself has been seen surrounded by personal guilt, extreme rage and arrogance in a mirthful manner. Whether calling Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the film and making him count the brilliant stuff they have worked on together, Anurag does not hesitate in showing the dark and self-love aspects in the film.

On the other side, Anil Kapoor has also acted well and gone realistically with the film flow. Harshvardhan Kapoor has given 5-10  minutes of monologue to impress Anurag and that scene is hilarious and Anil's reactions to the scene are unforgettable. We even saw Boney Kapoor's concern for his brother in the film and saw his acting for the first time. Ohh, we forget Sonam was also in the film but her act was not less than a cameo.

More about the plotline than Avinash Sampath's story and screenplay and Anurag Kashyap's dialogue delivery worked well for Netflix's film. A long chase sequence of Anil and driver Javed will surely remind you of Bhavesh Joshi where you can hear the Yogita's fatigue ness who is running behind them. Motwane and Avinash keep the film more rooted to the ground whether it is the shots of Anand Ahuja's concern over Sonam's disappearance or Harshvardhan Kapoor's excitement after watching Anurag at his residence or accusing Motwane of screwing his rising career. Well, Ak Vs Ak is a fun ride with hilarious shots of Kapoors' and Kashyap's personal life.

All-embracing, the film like AK Vs AK, hit the audiences' mind with the fact that such films have no sense with the real world. Would Anil ever try to shoot Anurag or Anurag's madness over revenge? Well, Avinash has tried to put up the screenplay to such a level that it can do justice with the mass appeal. Anil and Anurag both have acted as Motwane's film characters and rather than being more serious, their fighting scenes put a humongous laugh on one's face. Somewhere, after watching AK Vs AK, it silently reminds of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon Time in Hollywood film scene where Cliff Booth fights with Bruce Lee, and it looks so hard-headed. Well, here no intention to compare both films but realism was equal in both film styles, where everything has a meaning. So if you are a fan of Vikramaditya Motwane or Anurag Kashyap or Anil Kapoor, then you can watch this amalgamation of reality and fiction.