Kick (2009 film)

Kick is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Surender Reddy from a story by Vakkantham Vamsi. The film stars Ravi Teja, Ileana, and Shaam (in his Telugu debut) while Brahmanandam plays a supporting role. The film has music composed by S. Thaman. Released on 8 May 2009, the film was a commercial success.

The film is remade in Tamil as Thillalangadi (2010), in Hindi with the same name and in Kannada as Super Ranga (2014). A sequel, Kick 2 also starring Teja and directed by Reddy was released in 2015.

Plot
Kalyan is a happy-go-lucky man who excels in every field but always does strange and dangerous things to obtain a certain "kick" – a thrill or excitement that he craves. One such activity is secretly double-crossing his childhood friend Azam while helping him to elope. At this point, he meets Naina, who is shocked at his recklessness and writes him off as crazy. Kalyan sets his sights on Naina and woos her in a very unorthodox way; he begs her not to fall in love with him. After a host of comical situations, she accepts his love. However, she sets a condition: he must stay in a well-paid job (as he had resigned from other jobs due to the lack of "kick"), and only then she will agree to marry him. Kalyan accepts, but soon resigns again for the same reason and tries to hide it from her. When she finds out, she breaks up with hime and leaves him for good.

Some months later, Naina's parents arrange for her to meet a prospective suitor in Malaysia. Though reluctant, she meets the suitor, Kalyan Krishna, a tough but honest policeman. She narrates the story of her affair with Kalyan, and Kalyan Krishna reveals that he is tracking a dangerous thief who has stolen large amounts of money from wealthy, mostly corrupt, politicians. In Malaysia, Nisha, her sister and Kalyan Krishna's brother-in-law Prakash Raj run into Kalyan again, but learn that he has lost his memory and cannot remember his past life. Naina sees this as an opportunity to start their relationship again from the scratch. However, it is revealed that he has faked his condition by convincing an amnesiac that he is a doctor, and tricked him into diagnosing his condition falsely. Naina is upset but realizes that it was done because of his love for her, and she has hidden her own feelings from him. They reconcile.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that the thief whom Kalyan Krishna has been tracking is Kalyan. His motives are simple; he steals ill-gotten money from politicians to pay for operations for children suffering from cancer. After manipulating various people, such as an MLA, and stealing from them, he is finally caught in the act by Kalyan Krishna. Kalyan is still unfazed, celebrating his failure at a street party. He dares Kalyan Krishna to catch him in his final crime: stealing money worth inr 5000000000 from the party fund. After many harrowing chases, Kalyan pulls it off successfully. Kalyan Krishna is demoted from his job and is shocked to learn that his replacement is Kalyan, who promises to "guard" the minister's remaining money. Knowing what is in store for the politicians, Kalyan Krishna leaves with a new respect for his foe after learning his true motives of helping the children.

Production
The film was financed by R. R. Venkat under his banner, R. R. Movie Makers. It is the second collaboration between Ravi Teja and Ileana D'Cruz after Khatarnak. The cinematographer was Rasool Ellore and the editor was Gautham Raju, in his fourth collaboration with the director after Athanokkade, Ashok and Athidhi. In 2009, before the release of the film Agam Puram (2010), Surender Reddy chose the Tamil actor Shaam to play a policeman in Kick after looking at stills from that film.

Soundtrack
The audio was launched on 19 April 2009 at a function in Taj Deccan. The song "Gore Gore" was reused from the delayed film Moscowin Kavery.

Reception
Kick received widely positive reviews. A critic from Sify gave a review writing, "The film has been made well but it could have better scenes. Overall, since there are no other movies in sight now, Kick being a paisa vasool movie will definitely have a good run at the box office." A critic from IndiaGlitz gave a review saying, "The film attempts to provide complete entertainment from start to end and except two scenes where there is a sentiment and melodrama, the rest of the movie runs mostly on comedy and action along with few thrills and twists. But then the movie could have been a lot better if the speed was worked upon and also the fights were not much in the movie which could have pushed in more adrenaline. Good mix of various elements, can be watched."

Shaam, a Tamil actor, got his breakthrough in the Telugu film industry through this film and, as a result, he earned the name "Kick Shaam".

Remakes and sequel
The film was remade in Tamil as Thillalangadi, in Hindi as Kick and in Kannada as Super Ranga.

Sajid Nadiadwala intended to remake this film with A. R. Murugadoss as director. Nadiadwala received an invitation from the Korea Tourism Organization and, after his team visited South Korea in September 2011, he signed an agreement to shoot portions of this project and others there. Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez were signed to act in the film, which was directed by Nadiawala.

A sequel was announced, titled Kick 2, with the same lead actor Ravi Teja and director Surender Reddy. Music was again composed by S. Thaman. It was produced by the actor Nandamuri Kalyan Ram. It was launched on 10 August 2014 and was released on 21 August 2015.