Ki & Ka

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Film: Ki & Ka

Director: R. Balki

Star Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Rajit Kapoor, Swaroop Sampat

With a catchy name and having liked R. Balki's earlier three movies, Ki & Ka didn't dissapoint me; however, I could not say I liked it wholeheartedly.

Plot: Kia, a marketing manager at an FMCG company aims to excel in her career and refuses to be just a supporting system to her husband. Kabir, son of a rich builder and a B School topper wants to be a house-husband (rather artist) like his mother. They meet on a flight to Chandigarh and they hit it off immediately. After a couple of dates, they decide to get married when Kabir promises to look after the house as a house-husband. The arrangment works fine for the newly-weds.

In a sudden turn of events, Kabir's gets immense popularity and media coverage for his role as house-husband, which makes Kia insecure and jealous. From then, the relationship goes downhill. It does not take a genius to predict what happens next.

It is a new concept in Bollywood, although I'm not sure it is the original one. I vaguely remember watching Kannada movie, Ammavra Ganda starring Shivarajkumar and Bhagyashree (Maine Pyar Kiya fame) on the same line. The concept is of the role reversal. The first and foremost, I couldn't understand why Kia is jealous of Kabir's success or popularity when it is nowhere connected to her line of profession. If it is so, it would have been justified. Kia is shown as an ambitious and determined woman who succumbs to the emotion of jealousy and insercurity so easily. In a hurry to break the stereotype, the director just backed up the theory of "women are envious and resentful". Here Kabir goes a little overboard with his progressive thinking speech and deed. The cameo of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan is endearing, yet I am astonished and confused to know why and for what Jaya Bachchan praises Kia in a note.

It is depicted beautifully how the power dynamics lies in the hand of the bread winner and how the society as a whole looks down upon the house-wife/house-husband. There is a fight scene which is forced upon or rather film maker wanted us to believe our hero is really a macho and a gentleman.

Arjun Kapoor is quite cute and adorable as Kabir. I have a soft spot for this guy from his first movie. Kareena Kapoor is alright (I'm biased) as Kia, at least she get to do something more than just being in a 100-Crore movie club. The chemistry between them is refreshing.

The first half is pretty upbeat and swift. The downside is the the second half, which moves in a snail pace and the climax! Surely they could have come up with much better and touching end rather than the same old stupid flight scence. Nonetheless, it conveys the message of partnership in marriage and how it can flourish when both Ki & Ka appreciate each other's contribution in the institute of marriage.