Ki & Ka

‪#‎Ki‬&Ka: I wanted to give it 7; but my wife demanded little more. We argued, we debated, and then we finally settled for 7.25/5.

And I guess that's the only essence of this brilliant ‪#‎love‬, ‪#‎relationship‬ movie from R.Balki, which is somewhere between traditional and modern, yet loaded with highly practical, anti-age- old advice for those who think that being in a relationship is actually tough (or easy!)

Overall, I would describe the movie as a mixture of several Bollywood movies of this genre; as if R.Baliki is giving an ode to all previous directors: It has the pride and ego of Abhimaan, the wit, intellectuality from Bawarchi; the complexities and subtle emotions from Saathiya as well as the dark, mysterious elements of love from Hum Tum. R Balki has picked up ingredients from these movies, reversed the protagonists and the conflicts and presented via ‪#‎KiKa‬.

If Kareena Kapoor is the burning deity of hardcore feminism in this movie, then Arjun Kapoor is the epitome of gender equality and the evangelist and advocate against running the 'race'. Watch it with a pinch of salt, and get immersed in the awesomeness of food-porn, get bewitched by the portrayal of a successful blogger, and some untraditional, out of the box experiments which A-list stars seldom try out.

Watch it with an open mind, remembering the fact that the director had earlier given us path-breaking cinema like Cheeni Kum, Pa & English Vinglish. Ki&Ka won't change your life; but yes, it will seep an idea about the 'positive' change all right!

7.25/10

Ki & Ka – Breaking age old conventions & social conditionings! The female is Kia and the male is Kabir – Hence Ki & Ka.

About Male –

Son of a filthy rich real estate bizman. Father had a belittling attitude towards mother and thought she did nothing at home apart from sitting idle! Well, since they were filthy rich....there is not much that a wife does – apart from shopping, playing Mahjong, attending kitty parties etc....unless of course the Bizman was struggling during his youth and was surviving on measly salary – then the wife really comes handy – she buys food/ vegetables herself, washes utensils, clothes, cooks etc. – even then the members of the family think that she is not good enough! All the good-for-nothingness of the wife get further more exaggerated if there is a mother-in-law around (MIL hereinafter). You see many MILs cannot tolerate the fact that some unknown stranger female will come and have a good and comfortable time at her house! MILs often compare their days of youth with the present day and try to torture the daughter-in-law (DIL hereinafter) just as she was humiliated or tortured when she was a newly wed bride...anyways, I am diverting from the main story! Read on... So Kabir had witnessed the humiliating attitude of his father since childhood and was very upset about it. He was intelligent in studies so he did manage to finish his MBA from a good Institute. But he did not want to join the rat race – he wanted a cushy job of a home-maker. He wanted to be a 'WIFE'! wow!

About Female –

Kia had lost her father at a very young age. Her mother had to become both father and mother to the child – and we all know how important is money to run the family. Mother therefore gets busy with her profession...and of course also feeding & educating her daughter Kia. They lacked a man-figure in the house. Both of them had become males in the journey of life. Their house appeared as if it was hit by a tornado – unkempt and dishevelled! When Kabir had first visited their house, he even commented if they had a dog at home.....shows how terribly unkempt both the mother daughter were...in spite of a maid !

Story line- So ka and ki meet, Ka tells about how he disrespects his father because all his life he had seen him disrespecting his mother! They go around, try out sex and were probably happy with the outcome of the sex-session...so they decide to get married. Mother of Kia confirms from daughter – right in front of Ka - whether she had had sex with him or not – which is very important for marriage commitment! Really !! So very modern outlook!! Triple WOW!! So the movie is trying to convey to the youths..and adults and the aged...that youngsters should be allowed to have sex before wedlock.

Like male A will have sex with female B – if they are not satisfied with each other sexually, male A will have sex with female C and Female B will try out sex with male D....then Male D, who had tried sex with female F, G & H...and had rejected them all because they were not sassy enough as compared to what he had been watching in triple X blue films, will recommend an orgy session with female B because he is really really confused about his sexual preferences!

Anyways, they get married. Ki already had a beautiful flat but after all ka was the son of a rich bizman – he had picked up wasteful habits ..so he renovates the entire house and turns it into an 18th century railway station! Yuk! (I certainly would have kicked him out for this.....anyways pretty far fetched thought – I would never have agreed to such a stupid proposal...maybe because I have had a very normal childhood and I know the difference and importance of both father figure and mother figure in one's life.....and my mother was a very dominating personality.... she dominated with love..and no one in his or her sane mind would ever meddle with the source of sheer, selfless, unconditional love!) Maid Servant episode There is a scene where the maid arrives and thinking that all the family members must have gone to office, calls over her boyfriend to have sex in the AC room! Ka did not drive her away....but politely asked her if she had changed the bed-sheets after having sex ! Wow! Such an understanding kewl dude....the AC is on for 3-4 hours as long as she works, she watches TV and even keeps the house unkempt (remember the 1st time kabir visited the house, it looked like a kennel?) and all that the master of the house..no mistress of the house...whatever – had to say was 'Please change the bedsheets, Thankyou.'!! Gosh! Such creeps – devil knows what Bollywood tries to prove by showing such behaviour towards the wrong doer!

This film is basically a kick on the mouth of those women who consider it lowly to be a housewife and have joined the rat race...esp. to compete with men! Ka showed that recognition and fame, that humans hanker for, could be achieved by being a good home maker too! Ka starts making home cooked, healthy food videos and he becomes more famous than Ki. They fight...then make up at the end.

Story over.

Ki and Ka has one hell of an interesting premise.

Kareena Kapoor aka Kia doesn't want to get married and have kids as that will ruin her career while Arjun Kapoor aka Kabir is very happy to play the house husband with no ambitions inspite being from a wealthy family and B School topper. They get married but how long will this last?

The 1st half of the movie is fun filled. The way Kabir and Kia meet. Kabir is not the usual Hindi hero; he cries and tells Kia that housewife is an artist. How Kabir convinces her to marry him? How Kabir takes over running the house and becomes a favorite of all the ladies in the apartment. Frankly, the 1st half is simply awesome.

Its when the 2nd half starts that the cracks arise in the marriage and that when the movie starts to sink. The problem in 2nd half is that Balki and his co writer Virmani have no clue how to take the movie forward. So there is a stupid scene of Kia worried that she is pregnant and takes multiple pregnancy tests.

And, finally to ensure that there is a dramatic end they turn the film into a very old Amitabh Bachchan classic called Abhimaan. The only difference is here Kia gets jealous of Kabir's success. There is also one stupid mandatory fight scene to show that Kabir is still a man. Seriously !!

Very ironically, when the movie loses steam, Balki takes help of Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan who stared in Abhimaan and comes with a nice interesting piece between them. Both the actors steal the show in the 10 mins they have but those 10 mins also makes the viewer think about marriage and roles a husband and wife play.

Which also brings me to the question of what Balki was thinking while writing the movie? The problem with Ki and Ka is that Balki takes the story very seriously. If he wrote the 2nd half as the 1st which is fun filled and less preachy, this film would have been a cracker.

The film is also watchable because of its leads. Kareena Kapoor proves to us what a fabulous and talented actress she is. The fact that she ends up signing blockbusters with minuscule roles is the sad part of her career. I hope she concentrates more on the roles she signs because she is still capable of giving Deepika and Kangana a run for their money.

Arjun Kapoor also does a commendable job and is at ease playing the house husband who never looses his cool. I don't believe any other actor who have risked is career but Arjun takes it and shines.

And, finally both the Kapoors share one hell of a chemistry on screen which also lights up the movie.

However, I believe Ki and Ka could have been a landmark film for Hindi Cinema had Balki got the idea correct. He misses the plot and for me its an opportunity lost.

Director and writer Mr. R. Balki successfully breaks the established norms of gender biased society. He enhances the concept with adding perfect shots and churning out right expressions from actors. Story line is thin but screenplay and dialogues make it lovely. You can witness freshness in approach even from beginning of film. The way they meet and introduced on screen. The way Kia takes to meet Kabeer to her mother is good and the way Kabeer father reacts being introduced Kia by Kabeer and her reply is fantastic. When Kabeer catches maid red handed, the way this scenes handled is appropriate for the premise, even she is not fired but warned in cute way. Kabeer father wishing him Happy birth day is quirky but it shows the equation between father and son and it gets justified and enhances the climax. Perfect example of establishing characters and using it in proper way. Kabeer and Kia heated argue culmination is very good. Even the guest appearance of Mr. Amitabh Bachhan is very entertaining. His expressions are awesome and this plot is also used to realizing Kia's over reactions. Pre climax dialogues by Kia's mother about justification of gender with work is very good. Climax is emotional and impressive. Only drawback in this film is, its 30 minutes of second half which is full of montages and in films ads, promoting lots of brands in non creative and stuffed way. It slow the movie pace up to level of boring. Performance wise Kareena Kapoor is fabulous. Arjun Kapoor is endearing and balanced. Swaroop Sampat as Kia mother is very good. Rajat Kapoor as Kabeer father is good. Music wise "High heel Par Nache" is peppy and foot tapping.

"Hello! My name is Kabir and I am a house wife (husband)" is the main theme of this movie. This movie is a negative mask, that converts every right perspectives, traits, norms and ethics into an opposite. Mr Balki has once again come up with an innovative,fresh and yet slightly controversial topic as before. The movie focuses on marriage lives in subcontinent but in a never seen before manner. Ka(Arjun Kapoor) Ki (Kareena Kapoor) is a married couple in which Ki(Kareena) plays the husband and Ka(Arjun) plays the wife. The story emphasize that it is not mandatory for women only to stay at home and perform domestic tasks while assigning the outer duties to the male partner rather the same can be implemented in an entirely opposite way. This situation creates a natural comic angle and curiosity in the movie that is maintained till the end. A husband has been shown supporting his wife while staying at home and doing house keeping so that his wife can fulfill her dreams and becomes a very successful business woman. But at times success and over commitment of one partner becomes indigestible for the other and this marks the commencement of disputes between them leading towards more problems. Kareena and Arjun Kapoor has done a fabulous job by doing complete justice to their roles. Kareena Kapoor has appeared so fresh after a long time since "Jab We Met". A short cameo by "Big B" and "Jiya Bachhan" serves as icing on the cake towards the climax. R. Balki has proved his direction abilities and capabilities once again and deserves applause for bringing an altogether new dimension of thinking towards personal relations. A recommended movie to be watched by couples for sake of understanding the value and importance of each others role in real life!!!!