Ki and Ka
Year: 2016
Director: R. Balki
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapoor

Director R. Balki has always come up with really different cinematic themes such as a May-September romance in Cheeni Kum; a prematurely aging Progeria kid in Paa and a voice behind the screen image in Shamitabh. For his latest film (an interestingly titled Ki and Ka), he decides to focus on the gender role reversal in a modern urban marriage. How does the film work?

What’s the plot?

It is an odd match-up. She (Kareena Kapoor) is on the wrong side of thirty; he (Arjun Kapoor) is few years younger. She is a middle-class working woman who wants to make it big in the corporate world; he is a rich heir who wants nothing to do with family business and has plans to emulate his late mother in becoming the best ever homemaker. Their friendship turns into romance and ends up in marriage. As she moves ahead in her career, he happily looks after the domestic chores. But an unforeseen financial need makes him take up some new things in life. Will the odd couple be ready for the resultant change in the marital equation?

What’s hot?

·         Interesting concept in contemporary set-up.

·         The fun-friendship-romance part works well with some well-written dialogues.

·         Fast paced narrative.

·         Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan’s rather brief cameo appearance is colorful and perhaps the highlight of the film.

·         Coming back to the silver screen after a long time, Swaroop Sampat makes her mark as the girl’s likeable mother.

What’s not?

·         As the film moves on to serious exploration of gender role reversal in a modern urban marriage, the plot starts looking hollow and stretched.

·         A lot of empty talk about women’s lib and prevailing patriarchal social mindsets; none of which makes any emotional or intellectual connect, since the situations depicted are so far-fetched.

·         Instead of breaking the gender stereotypes, the film actually seems to foster them.

·         Both, Kareena and Arjun do well in light-hearted scenes but falter when emotions start running high.

·         Rajit Kapoor as the guy’s grumpy business-minded father is wasted in a caricature-like role.

Verdict

While it walks the rom-com road, Ki and Ka is fun to watch but as soon as it tries to  turn a social commentator, it starts sounding preachy and phony. 

Rating

2 stars