Skip to main content

Ki and Ka - Romcom gone dramatically average!

So in the incredibly awesome Jab We Met, a phoney station master opines, "Zindagi ek rail ki patri hai. Ek inch ka bend, aur meelon ki doori.."  Funny, but apt. And Ki and Ka visually keeps reminding us of how relationships are like train journeys.. Two tracks that must support a huge vehicle called marriage. Two tracks that are separate yet act as one.. A great thought and a nice premise to make a film on. 

Ki and Ka - if not completely novel, is certainly a full blown attempt at role reversals. A guy runs the house so his wife can follow her career aspirations. That's a great idea and that's the best thing about the film. The rest is somewhat incidental and an almost diametrically opposite version of age old stereotypes, that end up making the caricatures - except with genders reversed. Ki and Ka is lost between trying to make a strong point about gender roles one hand and trying to still be funny (and almost gimmicky) on the other. Eventually it is a romcom that decides to get dramatic and in the end delivers averagely on both counts. 



Everything about the boy meets girl (or shall we say girl meets guy), is uncoventional. And even as the Kabir (ka - Arjun Kapoor) reminds his new interest Kia (ki- Kareena Kapoor) that he is not gay, he is very clear that he wants to make a home, and not get into a career of any sort. As much as he wants to sound feminist, it is hard to ignore that it really seems Ka's personal choice and it seems to work mainly because his Ki is fine with it. What with the man insisting on wearing a mangalsutra and all.. To each his own.

And after the film has set its tone, there's not of a plot in the first half. Yes, we meet his chauvinist father and her progressive mother - again both extreme opposites. One asks the son to check his genitals to reassure his manliness and the other confirms if the daughter has had sex with her  husband-to-be to ensure all' a well before marriage. The supposed slice of life treatment ends up served as episodes of one situation after the other. All in all the first half seems like a feel-good romcom, something that director R Balki excelled in with his debut Cheeni Kum

Ki and Ka takes a dramatic turn in the second half and treads along the gender reversed Abhimaan track -  the yesteryears classic on the shifting balance of ego and self worth in a married couple. That the resolution for Ki and Ka should come from the real life couple - Amitabh and Jaya Bachan playing themselves in an endearing cameo, is another feel good moment in the largely easygoing experience that this movie is. The conflicts, the resolutions and everything in between has a sense of ease, which dare I say, shows somewhat lack of imagination. 

All in all, it's a film that starts with, thrives on and ends with a few preachy mini monologues on gender roles. That said,  the film is not boring and the monologues are relevant. It's kudos to the team of actors who make these caricatures somewhat relatable. 

Arjun Kapoor pulls off the high heeled act with high testosterone and credible sensitivity. Kudos to casting and the actor for accepting a role that makes the message even more strong. He's not the quintessential metrosexual. He's rugged and all brawn and yet a homemaker at heart. Kareena is effervescent as the ambitious yet boisterous Kia, and she is particularly great in the second half when her character starts to feel insecure and ego gets the better of her. 

The music by maestro Ilayaraja doesn't have the signature timelessness except for the Ji huzoori track, which has some fine lyrics too by Sayeed Quadri. Technically the film seems average but the art direction of the film is special in that it creates a fantasy like home of Ki and Ka, perhaps a fitting metaphor that a couple like this is just as impossible to find in real as a house like that. And I don't know if the print in the auditorium I saw was bad, but the editing seemed choppy. 

In the end, I think you won't regret watching Ki and Ka, but you won't regret missing it either. 2.5 stars. If you spend between 150 and 200 bucks you won't complain :-) 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

5 points about 3 idiots... Lot's in the name!

5 points about 3 idiots... Lot's in the name! Kartik KJ When I saw news clippings of the war of words between 3 idiots team and the writer of 5 point someone, I was moved to think and heres what I personally feel. its 5 points really.. (pun probably intented). 1. Is this a marketing gimmick? Sorry Chetan, but that's the first thing that comes to my mind. For of late, bollywood has stooped to abysmal levels to get people into movie halls. I am thinking, this is a reallllly cheap one (if it is, and I hope it isn't). Do you need such a bad gimmick for a film as strong as this one. But then again, this was the same team that withdrew the trailer of Prakash Jhas Raajneeti from the films launch, because they 'would rather do away with the trailer than have people distracted from 3 Idiots'. ???????? Duh!! Can a 3 minute trailer (I dont know the length really, but how big can a trailer be??) take away from the brilliant film that 3 idiots is???? Can crediting the author re...

The rest is of course--- Hissss-story

Some suggestions to recover from the recent insults: May be Mallika Sherawat should walk the red carpet in CWG 2010 - like she did in Cannes with snakes all over her– some positive would come out of it.. all this snake spotiing can be camouflaged by calling it a promotional activity for her latest ‘international’ film – hissss! Wink, wink. Or why not have the Wildlife SOS team in cultural outfits (aka Amrish Puri in Nagina..) Spot a snake? And you just won an exclusive show of the “SnakeCharmers of India” . Congratulations on winning the “Incredible India” experience.. Goes well with the ‘land of snake charmers’ image that we have fought O-so-hard against. Funny, eh? The sarcasm is a result of both – embarrassment and anger. Some say it is media that has unnecessarily highlighted just the negatives. Others say that the under preparedness of the venue exposes the deep-rooted corruption and inefficiencies of the system. I don’t know which one is right. But the fact remains, that it d...

Bajirao Mastani - an epic SLB spectacle!

Bhansali ne Bajirao pe film banayi hai; Documentary Nahi!  I want to start my review with those lines simply to act as a disclaimer (much like the movie) to confirm that my views are of this movie as a movie and not as a piece of historic documentation of a much loved and respected character or a review of how well the film recreates the details of an era, which even historians agree isn't well documented. So then..  Everyone has a weakness and mine is mainstream Bollywood.. Every time a big budget multi starrer is in the making, I'm busy following up on it and eagerly awaiting the release. Add to it an A-list cast, appetising promos and interesting music, and I can't wait any more. Obviously, I was looking forward to Bajirao Mastani - a magnum opus by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is arguably the most gifted visualiser of our times - love them or hate them, you can't ignore that with every movie Bhansali has made, he has created unforgettable images. And who d...