Kick (2014 film)

Plot

Shaina Mehra is a psychiatrist living in Warsaw, Poland. Her father, Brijesh Mehra brings a marriage proposal and asks her to meet Himanshu Tyagi. Himanshu and Shaina meet in a train, where Shaina reveals that she had an ex-boyfriend, Devi Lal Singh, and talks about her crazy experiences with him.

Devi is an intelligent, adventurous man who is always looking for a "kick" in his life. When Shaina meets Devi, she is trying to help her friend Vidhi elope with her lover who is Devi's friend. Devi gets them married in a temple, but also helps her mother follow them and reach the temple for "kick." Shaina meets Devi's father, Ratan Lal Singh, and his mother Rati Lal Singh. Devi and Shaina date and fall in love. On Shaina's suggestion, Devi accepts a job in a chemical lab, but resigns in a few days suffering from the lack of "kick." Shaina scolds him and Devi breaks up with her and moves away.

Himanshu, a police officer, shares his experiences with a thief he hates, because he can't stop him. The robber, called "Devil," targets the rich people associated with Shiv Gajra, a corrupt businessman, and robs them. The robber is none other than Devi. When Himanshu is unsuccessful in catching Devil, Devi contacts Himanshu and refers to him as a partner and insults him by calling him a loser which is actually a clue that Devi gives Himanshu.

Shaina spots Devi in Poland who has come there for treatment after losing his memory in an accident. Shaina offers to handle Devi's case and take him home. Devi is acting about his memory loss, his real plan is to befriend and fool Himanshu and rob Shiv, who will be coming to Poland. Devi enters a charity function and robs Shiv, but Himanshu and Shaina discover Devi's true identity and Devi escapes. Himanshu spots Devi and warns him he will be killed, but Devi says that he will rob a huge party fund on 14 November. Devi dares Himanshu to kill him on the 14th, otherwise Devi will be standing in front of him on 15 November, and he won't be able to do anything.

In a flashback, Devi's true intentions and good deeds are revealed by Devi's father. He tells Shaina that his son is committing robberies to help poor children who are suffering from diseases. Devi saved a girl named Jhumki after reading a letter in the hands of her dead parents. When a doctor tells him that several children are suffering from diseases, he saves them by robbing to get money for their treatments, knowing that it will give a lot of "kick." On 14 November, after fighting Shiv's henchmen, Devi kills Shiv. Himanshu is set up with officers to shoot Devi, but kids block his shot. 14 November is Children's Day, and the sick children are going to pray for Devi and Himanshu realizes the robberies were for the kids.

On 15 November, Devi joins the police force to catch Devil. He arrives at the police station and stands in front of Himanshu, who is unable to do anything about the situation, therefore completing his challenge. Himanshu is taken off of the case and it is given to Devi, who is now a police officer. Devi then thanks Himanshu, saying that he was never against him, but he is against the corrupt system.

Cast

Special appearances

Development

Producer Sajid Nadiadwala initially signed A. R. Murugadoss as the director, but he was replaced by Shirish Kunder after Murugadoss was unable to direct the film. Apart from Ileana D'Cruz, who starred in the original 2009 film of the same name, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Sonakshi Sinha, Priyanka Chopra, and Angela Jonsson were considered for the female lead. After much discussions, Jacqueline Fernandez was signed on to act in the film. US-based Abhijat Joshi, who had written the scripts for Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai was approached to write the script in 2009. Nadiawala wanted the script to be prepared during the release of 3 Idiots, when Joshi had come back to India. Chetan Bhagat eventually wrote the script for the film which is based on Vakkantham Vamsi's script.

The film was also remade in Tamil as Thillalangadi.

Principal photography

Nadiadwala and his team visited South Korea in September 2011 at the invitation from the Korea Tourism Organization, and he signed an agreement to shoot portions of this project and others in that country. The shooting of the film began on 27 July 2013 in Scotland, where Khan shot a car crash scene and helicopter crash scene in Glasgow. Shooting was also done in Delhi. Some scenes were shot at Mehboob Studios in February 2014 and at the Film City studio in Mumbai. In October 2013, while the shooting was in progress outside the city of Mumbai, the Film Studio Settings & Allied Mazdoor Union asked Sajid to pay them wages for one and a half shifts, which he refused. The workers stopped shooting for a week and only resumed when Sajid agreed to the worker's demands. The shooting of the movie Roy had to be postponed due to Fernandez's commitments to this movie. Fernandez started learning the Urdu language specifically for the film with a coach who was hired by Khan. While shooting was underway in Mumbai in March 2014, Khan's body double, Ajay, was injured while shooting a stunt scene. He was supposed to jump from the first floor of a house onto a railway track, but went through the sugar glass, injuring his face. He required hospitalization.

The film's climax was shot in Poland at Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. Khan wanted to shoot part of the film in United Kingdom, but he was refused a visa by the authorities.

Soundtrack

The songs featured in the film were composed by Himesh Reshammiya, Meet Bros. Anjjan and Yo Yo Honey Singh. The film's score was composed by Julius Packiam. Sajid bought the rights to Rajiv Rai movie Vishwatma hit song Saat Samundar. It was a tribute to Sajid first late wife Bollywood actress Divya Bharti which the song was picturized on her. Since this was his first movie he directed he wanted to do a tribute to his late wife Divya, and wanted her to be part of it. Salman Khan danced to the song saat samundar par for a beautiful tribute to late Divya Bharti

Critical reception

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4.5 stars and predicted that it would become a blockbuster. Sarita Tanvar from DNA gave the movie 4 stars and called it "a non-stop entertainment and Salman Khan at his best." Saurabh Dwivedi from India Today also gave the film 4 stars and stated, "This film will rule over everybody's hearts and minds. The film is replete with all things about Salman, and it's a complete paisa vasool watch. It's a masala offering for families, students, kids, and everyone in between." Times of India also gave a positive review and rated it with 3.5 stars. They stated "Kick is Bollywood biryani, a masala movie spiced with the superstardom of Salman Khan, garnished by charming Jacqueline, smouldered over the wry talent of Randeep Hooda. Kick is not for lovers of fine filmi foie gras, but for those who want a hearty Eid banquet to enjoy". Subhash K. Jha gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "Nadiadwala ensures there are enough tailor-made sequences to accentuate Salman's super-heroic persona".

Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 3 out of 5 stars and stated that "Kick is Salman's best film in a decade". Aparna Mudi of Zee News gave it 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "The movie is exactly what it promises – a larger than life Salman Khan movie which the director knows will go down well with his massive fan following". Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave 3 stars out of 5 and said that "Kick is no Ek Tha Tiger but it is an effectively enjoyable film that crackles enough to gives us bang for our buck!".

Rachit Gupta from Filmfare gave the movie 3 out of 5 and called it "a brainless romp". Shubha Shetty Saha from Mid Day gave the movie 2 out of 5 and called it "a bizarre movie". Anupama Chopra from Hindustan Times gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 and called it "an outrageously silly film". Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 and said "it doesn't make much sense". Rahul Desai from Mumbai Mirror gave the movie 2 out of 5 and called it "harebrained, patronizing and regressive at most points". Suhani Singh from India Today gave the movie 1.5 out of 5 and called it "unimaginative and unoriginal". Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV gave the movie 2 out of 5 and said "it provides a kick only sporadically". Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave the movie 2 out of 5 and called it "unjhelable".

Box office

Kick was one of the highest grossing Hindi films at the time, with a final worldwide gross collection of ₹4.02 billion (US$63 million)

India

On its opening day, Kick earned around ₹260 million (US$4.1 million), making it the second highest non-holiday opening grosser behind Dhoom 3. The film had similar collections on its second day, at around ₹270 million (US$4.2 million) itself. The collections on Sunday saw a jump as it went to ₹290 million (US$4.5 million), to take its weekend total to ₹820 million (US$13 million). On its first Monday the film went on to make around ₹140 million (US$2.2 million), and on Tuesday the film showed a big increase due to Eid and collected a record total amounting to approximately ₹260 million (US$4.1 million). On Wednesday, it earned a further ₹200 million (US$3.1 million). And on Thursday the film collected around ₹140 million (US$2.2 million), taking its opening week total to ₹1.55 billion (US$24 million) nett, the second highest after Dhoom 3.

It grossed around ₹85 million (US$1.3 million) on its eighth day, around ₹100 million (US$1.6 million) on its ninth and ₹130 million (US$2.0 million) on its tenth day, taking the second weekend to ₹315 million (US$4.9 million), the third highest behind Dhoom 3 and 3 Idiots. The ten-day domestic total was thus ₹1.87 billion (US$29 million) net. With this, it also became Salman Khan's highest grosser in India, beating Ek Tha Tiger. Kick took its business to ₹2.04 billion (US$32 million) nett in two weeks as it made ₹480 million (US$7.5 million) in its second week. It further grossed ₹90 million (US$1.4 million) in week three and ₹20 million (US$310,000) in week four, taking the final domestic nett to ₹2.33 billion (US$36 million) and becoming the second highest earner in India after Dhoom 3.

In the Mumbai circuit, the film had a strong opening where it collected ₹310 million (US$4.8 million) nett from its first four days. whereas it earned about ₹177 million (US$2.8 million) from its first four days in the Delhi/UP region. In the East Punjab, C. P. Berar, Central India, and Rajasthan circuits, the film made ₹262 million (US$4.1 million) in its first four days. In the West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Orissa circuits, the film made a total of about ₹92 million (US$1.4 million) in its first four days, while it made ₹80 million (US$1.2 million) in the South Indian circuit in the same period.

Overseas

Overseas earnings were ₹24.05 crore (US$3.8 million) in the first four days. From the US theaters, the film minted ₹4.99 crore (US$780,000)($829,411) from 141 screens, while from Canada it fetched ₹1.17 crore (US$194,016) from 22 screens. In its opening weekend in UAE-GCC, including Thursday's preview shows, "Kick" raked in ₹4.09 crore (US$640,000) (AED 2,500,000). The film is running on 137 screens in the UK-Ireland region, where it fetched ₹2.44 crore (US$380,000)(£239,150). From 25 screens in Australia, receipts were ₹1.48 crore (US$230,000)(A$263,095) in the first three days. New Zealand and Malaysia had the lowest opening weekend total. From New Zealand it raked in ₹41.92 lakh (NZ$81,721) and from Malaysia ₹5.98 lakh (MYR 31,588). At the end of its theatrical run in overseas, the film earned $11.38 million. The highest revenue came from Gulf ($4.13 million), US/Canada ($2.473 million), UK (£1.314 million) and Australia (Aus $510,000). The film became the highest holiday grosser ever in Pakistan beating the record of Dhoom 3 and opened with Rs. 2.08 crore. In Pakistan, where the film catered to the ongoing Eid festivities, the film at the conclusion of its second weekend rested at Rs. 7.40 crore. The film release on 7 November 2014 in Pöland and collected Rs.8 crore. Kick grossed US$11.1 million in overseas at the end of its theatrical run.

Sequel

Salman Khan and Sajid Nadiadwala stated they were planning a sequel. Salman Khan is writing the sequel which is expected to go on the floors at the end of 2018. Salman is supposed to play double role in the movie.