Synopsis – Follows a young, married couple whose relationship challenges the gender roles placed upon women and men in Indian society.

My Take – Director R Balki is known to create films that are known to break stereotypes while raising questions about the blurred lines of our Indian society. His fourth film, after Cheeni Kum, Paa and Shamitabh, runs on the similiar path by offering a clever spin on a story which is quite relevant in today’s time where terms such as feminism and sexism are the ‘in’ things. The trailer of the film gives the impression that the film is going to deal with what happens if a man does not want such roles? What if a man chooses to be a homemaker and take care of the household chores, whereas their wives go out and work? It talks beyond gender role reversal. Rather the film talks about the concept that how a financially independent person or the one who earns in marital partnership becomes the dominant figure. The film highlights, how the breadwinner of the family, be it ‘Ki’ or ‘Ka’ (female or male figure) feels that the family survives or thrives because of her / him, whereas she or he ignores the contribution of the support system of their partners. Marriage is a partnership, which can be successful only when both the parties believe in this partnership and live this togetherness without being insecure or jealous of ones achievements, be supportive of each others journey, and be tolerant enough to handle mistakes of one another. Alas comes in the Bollywood twist! Even with such a humorous marketable idea, director R. Balki‘s film fall downs to mediocrity by going the cliche route hereby never allowing the concept to reach its full potential. The story follows Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan), a successful marketing manager who on a flight from her friends wedding meets Kabir (Arjun Kapoor), a man-child son of a rich father (Rajit Kapur) who rides a Segway and collects toy trains.

Kia gains interest in Kabir the moment he describes his future plan of becoming a house husband despite being an MBA topper. Unlike other men out there, Kabir wants to devote his life to the memory of his late housewife mother. She was an artist, a domestic goddess who built their home, Kabir declares, and he wants to be like her. It’s a gender role reversal made in heaven – an ambitious woman who wants to climb the ladder is paired with a progressive male partner who is happy to stay at the bottom – and the early months of married life are bliss. He cooks, cleans and plays the house husband to perfection while she toils away. Kia’s mother (Swaroop Sampat), an impeccably dressed social worker who lives with them, is most pleased with the arrangement too. While the initial courtship period is all cute, the real story begins post the couple’s marriage. The breezy first-hour is nicely balanced on how its protagonists meet & their subsequent sudden marriage, it just sets things right up, but the loose second-hour slows down & the jealously angle from the lady’s point of view, when the man becomes a craze for his uniqueness, doesn’t really work. Ever since his Cheeni Kum days, it has been a specialty of the filmmaker to address heavy-duty issues, in the garb of humor. But in this film, the humor reeks of his laziness. It is one of the reasons why the story remains at a rather superficial level. His inability to sink his teeth into the wonderful matter at hand, is the film’s most noticeable flaw. It is disappointing to see a brilliant idea being reduced to a quintessential breezy romantic song-and-dance saga. Added to that the film’s too-hard-to-be funny vein fails to evoke many laughs. Halfway into it, you know that the movie’s attitude is not pointed enough. The thought process behind it is convoluted, which is why the narrative lacks clarity. Whatever Balki’s strengths might be—and there is some pleasure to be had in the urban glibness of his writing—subtlety isn’t one of them. As Kabir gains a measure of fame as a model homemaker, Kia (whose own career is flourishing) becomes utterly, irrationally jealous. Just as one is trying to process this late veer into Abhimaan territory, the actors from that film, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, turn up as themselves. It’s a lovely interlude, and if it wasn’t presented to us as an all-too-obvious “message”, it would have worked a lot better. Director Balki cannot seem to take the ad film-maker out of him – everything in this film is about smart lines and there are no real plot points, just minor blips in Ka and Ki’s life which allow them to pontificate to others about gender equality and reflect on the role of men and women in the world. The narrative obviousness is matched by stylistic unsubtlety of the highest order. When Kabir needs to come up with money quickly, he takes a ride on his Segway at night. The situation is perfectly clear to us, but Balki nevertheless fills the soundtrack with Kabir’s voice saying things like, “I need money. Quickly. What can I do?” Similarly, to convey the success of Kia’s business plan, he actually resorts to an on-screen graph with a rising arrow.

The main characters are too sketchy for the movie Balki hopes to have made, and they are not light enough for the movie he should have made. The film could have been an interesting screwball comedy about the gender wars if the director had a greater attention span and a genuine interest in moving beyond gimmicky plots and contrived situations. It is easy to sit back and watch it like a fuzzy rom-com. But we guess that wasn’t the idea. The film was trying to make a point which gets lost amidst the clamor of unnecessary jokes. Too much time is lost in reiterating Kabir isn’t gay. We totally understand a man not being career driven but in the same breath we are told about his undying love for whiskey and the hatred for pink. Now is that not stereotyping? Now, this is not an uninteresting premise; few, if any, Hindi films have explored this particular dynamic. Unfortunately, the film keeps playing the same few notes over and over again. During one of their first dates, Kabir gets upset when Kia suggests that running a home is, essentially, doing nothing. An hour and a half later, they are still fighting about the same thing. I lost count of the number of times we were invited to admire the resilience, the sacrifice, the artistry of the homemaker. By the 1-hour mark, the film has said all it had to and then it just goes and says it again. Among the performances, Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, both play it safe and don’t push the boundaries and test their acting powers, which is actually a good thing! Their on screen chemistry is what makes us hooked to the screen. Kareena and Arjun complemented each other, it took a little time but the couple’s chemistry manages to sink in. Arjun Kapoor starts off looking uncomfortable at first mainly due to the shift of his usual angry man roles, but smoothly slips into his part as the proceedings go on. You can’t blame him for the poorly written character. He is spot-on, delivering what is asked of him to the tee. When required, he becomes Dharmendra. At other times, he is earnestly cribbing about the dis balance between genders. Kareena Kapoor Khan is adequate. She hardly gets a chance to show her acting prowess but the lady looks gorgeous. This is a character which no one else could’ve pulled better. You wish the material gave her a better chance. Swaroop Sampat & Rajit Kapur are likable in supporting roles. Amitabh & Jaya Bachchan are a delight to watch in their special appearance. On the whole, ‘Ki and Ka’ has a good heart in its place, with a innovative, progressive & amusing story line the film could have done wonders, but is run down by narrative unsubtlety and a cliche route.

Director – R. Balki

Starring – Kareena Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Kapoor

Rated – PG15

Run Time – 126 minutes