Kick

Kick is a 2009 Telugu action comedy directed by Surender Reddy from a story by Vakkantham Vamsi and produced by R. R. Venkat under R. R. Movie Makers. Ravi Teja stars with Ileana and Shaam, in his Telugu debut, with Brahmanandam in a key comic role; S. Thaman composed the music. Released on 8 May 2009, it was a major commercial success, credited by many in the trade with reviving Telugu cinema in 2009, and was remade in Tamil, Hindi and Kannada.

What the story is about

Kalyan is a happy-go-lucky young man who is good at everything but can only be bothered with things that give him a “kick”, a thrill he constantly chases, even if it means doing something strange or dangerous. In the middle of one such escapade, helping, and secretly double-crossing, his childhood friend Azam as he elopes, he meets Naina, who decides he is crazy. Kalyan woos her in his own unorthodox way, by begging her not to fall in love with him, and she eventually accepts him on one condition: that he hold down a well-paid job. Kalyan keeps quitting jobs for lack of a kick, and when Naina finds out he has done it again, she leaves him. Months later, on a visit to Malaysia to meet a prospective groom, she is introduced to Kalyan Krishna, a tough, honest police officer who is hunting a mysterious thief who has been robbing corrupt politicians.

Cast

• Ravi Teja as Kalyan
• Ileana as Naina (voice dubbed by Haritha)
• Shaam as IPS officer Kalyan Krishna
• Brahmanandam as Halwa Raj, alias “Parugu” Prakash Raj
• Sayaji Shinde as Kalyan’s father and Kota Srinivasa Rao as the chief minister
• Ali as Dr. Baali, Venu Madhav as Azam and Raghu Babu as Pathan
• Jaya Prakash Reddy as J. P. Reddy, Nadhiya as Naina’s aunt and Rao Ramesh as her uncle
• Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, L. B. Sriram and Benarjee in supporting roles, and Hazel Crowney in a song

Making the film

Kick reunited Ravi Teja and Ileana after Khatarnak. Rasool Ellore shot it, and Gautham Raju edited it, his fourth film with Surender Reddy. Reddy cast the Tamil actor Shaam as the police officer after seeing stills from his film Agam Puram; the role became his Telugu breakthrough and earned him the nickname “Kick Shaam”.

Music

Thaman’s soundtrack was launched on 19 April 2009 at the Taj Deccan. The prelude of “Dil Kalaase” is based on Don Omar’s “Conteo”, and “Gore Gore” was reused from the delayed film Moscowin Kavery.

Box office

According to News18 Telugu and T2BLive, Kick earned a distributors’ share of ₹25–30 crore, among the highest for a Telugu film at the time. Deccan Herald counted it the third-highest-grossing Telugu film of 2009, after Magadheera and Arundhati, and Ravi Teja’s biggest hit until Balupu (2013).

What critics said

Reviews were largely positive. Sify felt it “could have better scenes” but called it a “paisa vasool movie” that would have a good run, and Idlebrain.com also reviewed it favourably.

Remakes and sequel

Kick was remade in Tamil as Thillalangadi (2010), with Shaam reprising his role, in Hindi as Kick (2014) with Salman Khan, and in Kannada as Super Ranga (2014). A sequel, Kick 2, again with Ravi Teja, Surender Reddy and Thaman and produced by Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, was released on 21 August 2015.

Where to watch Kick

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Kick on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Kick and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; Wikidata; our own cast and crew records.