Ravi Teja's strength is his ability to take a home grown theme and build upon it with a strong sense of nativity. Directors, like Puri Jagannath,who realize this are very successful with Ravi Teja. Director Surender Reddy seems to have missed this point and eventually his "kick" has backfired

What is it about : Kick is about an adrenaline addict called Kalyan (Ravi Teja). For Kalyan normal is boring. The more different a thing can be done the greater the kick he derives from it. The first 40 minutes of the film are a laugh riot. His introduction scene where he gets the MLA's daughter married off to his friend, and how meets his eventual love Naina (Ileana) are typical Ravi Teja laughathons. The scenes between Kalyan and his father (Sayaji Shinde) have good content. Sayaji Shinde's attempt to justify his son's erratic behaviour in terms of a young man unwilling to compromise his individuality drew cheers from the audience. The director introduces another side to Ravi Teja. Our hero steals for kick - and boy he steals big. His target is Rs. 500 crores from a political party, the money which he says is going to be used for treatment of terminally ill children. In his pursuit is inspector Kalyan Krishna ( Shyam ) who meets Naina in a train and proposes marriage to her by the time they get down in the platform! The rest of the story is about how Ravi Teja steals his Rs. 500 crores and wins Naina back.

What is Good: The cast does an impressive job of their roles. Ravi Teja, Ileana and Brahmanandam have done so many roles like these that they sail through their characters effortlessly. Rasool's cinematography is a revelation as is his song picturization. As usual the comedy sequences between Halwa Raja and Kalyan are hilariously funny. Nothing thoughtful but you will laugh heartily. The first half of the movie especially the first 40 minutes raises expectations that this is going to be a mega hit.

What is bad: And then director Surender Reddy simply sinks the movie in the second half. He adds too many twists in the tale and introduces a lengthy flash back of Ravi Teja's Robin Hood avatar of robbing rich and helping poor. This flash back lasting for about 20 minutes drags and almost kills the second half of the film. The climax too has been picturized trying to elevate the hero image and the audience will surely have their "god-when-will-this-movie-end" moments. The director tries to elevate Ravi Teja's image without elevating Kalyan's character. Ultimately this proved to be the movie's undoing.

Me Thinks:Give it a miss. Even if you are a Ravi Teja fan you are likely to walk away disappointed.

Tailpiece: What was producer Venkat thinking while handing over reins to director Surender Reddy? Surender Reddy's forte is action movies and Ravi teja's strength is comedy with slight doses of action. It is no small wonder that the kick lacked punch!