AK vs AK

AK vs AK
Official release poster
Directed by	Vikramaditya Motwane
Screenplay by	Avinash Sampath Vikramaditya Motwane
Dialogues by	Anurag Kashyap
Story by	Avinash Sampath
Produced by	Deepa De Motwane Anurag Kashyap David Taghioff
Starring	Anil Kapoor Anurag Kashyap Harshvardhan Kapoor Yogita Bihani
Cinematography	Swapnil S. Sonawane
Edited by	Bunty Bhansali
Music by	Songs: Alokananda Dasgupta Rākhis Nuka Background Score: Alokananda Dasgupta
Production company	Andolan Films
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	24 December 2020 (2020-12-24)
Running time	108 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Hindi

AK vs AK is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language black comedy thriller film directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and is the first release under his banner Andolan Films. Anurag Kashyap, the executive producer and dialogue writer, also stars alongside Anil Kapoor as the title characters with Harshvardhan Kapoor and debutante Yogita Bihani in pivotal roles.

The story, written by Avinash Sampath, utilises a film-within-a-film narrative where the main actors play fictionalised versions of themselves. After a public feud between Kashyap, an eccentric film director, and Anil Kapoor, an ageing film star, the former kidnaps the latter's daughter (Sonam Kapoor Ahuja) and forces Kapoor to search for her while his assistant (Bihani) films them as part of his next project, with most of the film shown from the perspective of her camera.

The idea for the film was conceived by Sampath in 2013, and development started after he sent it to Motwane. At first, the film's title was AK vs SK, with Shahid Kapoor^[a] playing himself in the latter role, but schedule conflicts caused the film to be shelved in 2016. The project was resurrected in late 2019 with Anil Kapoor in the role instead and a new script. Filming took place a couple months later, and after an unconventional marketing campaign launched a few weeks before the film's release, AK vs AK debuted on Netflix as one of the service's original films on 24 December 2020, Kapoor’s 64th birthday. It initially received positive reviews, with praise going to the film's novel structure, the two leads' performances, and its exploration of the film industry. However, the ending and its buildup was considered underwhelming by critics.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).