Ki & Ka. Kareena & Arjun - role playing Kapoors

Ki & Ka seems an unusual title for a movie until you realize the words are shortened versions of boy and girl or lad-Ki  and lad-Ka.

Safe to assume then that this is a movie about a girl and a boy, or to be more precise about a woman and a man. 

The title and the plot are put into perspective when Arjun Kapoor’s character Ka-bir poses the following question when discussing his relationship with his wife Ki-a (Kareena Kapoor), “why are men expected to perform roles that are classified feminine in Hindi, for instance why are men expected to do the naukRi (work) while women are expected to do the male thing pakhana (cooking)?”

Why indeed?

Because according to him “it would not be out of place for the role to match the gender so men can cook and women work and society should have no issue with it” fair point I suppose and you know modern society will be cool with it… and why should individuals care if society isn’t?

And that’s the crux of this movie, swap the roles get the girl to be the career woman and the boy to be a home executive - a houseband - and see what happens…
So which box does that fit into? 
Is it evolution or revolution?

Neither just a neat concept treated lightly for the most part but still cleverly enough to be different, progressive and meaningful and if none of those words grab you, try this one: delightful. 
This is a delightful movie.

I have a friend who is virtually a houseband; he works when he wants, travels well, eats at the most swanky places and seems fulfilled. So too is his wife who is a wiz in the corporate world, one of the best at what she does, and one of the most fun people to hang out with. 

He laughs when asked about his life, so does she and mostly so do we at their expense off course but they’re content and as long as both are doing what they love, so they should be... no big deal, no revolution just an easy evolution…

In this movie, the man Kabir is just a little too perfect. He makes perfect food – including perfectly fluffy omelettes, keeps perfect house, hosts perfect kitty parties for the ladies in the hood, cries perfect tears, gives perfect advice, is perfectly stereotyped. 

Fortunately his wife is not, she throws tantrums, jumps to conclusions, is temperamental, just the kind of woman that you can love before you can adore and she is the more realistic person in the relationship. 
If either of them are in need of our empathy it is she because what she has to deal with is far more challenging, society judges women differently to men, if the guy does something unusual like being a houseband his mates will snigger which is the biggest challenge he will face but questions will be asked of the woman, judgement passed, and that is the strength of this movie, it shows it and without ever labouring the point.           

In marriage as in the movies, conflict is inevitable. For a while in this movie it almost appears unlikely, you wait for something to happen and you wait and you wait some more but it’s a slow burner because once the conflict arrives, it threatens to engulf everything.

Straight off the bat let me admit to not being a big fan or either of the lead Kapoor’s - Kareena or Arjun but I enjoyed watching them, almost enough to become one. 

With Kareena I swing between having massive crushes or just complete indifference, it happens all the time. 

I found myself liking her after Refugee, Ashoka, K3G, Omkara, 3 Idiots, Jab We Met and Bajrangi Bhaijaan but the feeling generally passed. Her spunky performance here though has brought a new found and for me I hope longer term admiration. 

She plays it very admirably.

As for Arjun much as I liked him in Two States and Finding Fanny, stuff like a Gunday and a Tevar irritated me… but he too captivates in a sensitive portrayal and credit for that must go to the way producer, director and screenwriter R. Balki who gets the best out of them.

Wait! The lights have just gone on. I do get it! When you are born R. Balakrishnan and change your name to R. Balki you would naturally be prone to changing ladki and ladka to Ki & Ka, and that explains it, I should’ve spotted that a mile away! 

Balakrishnan, ladki, ladka become Balki, Ki & Ka there is a method to his thinking!

Balki is a filmmaker who regularly goes where others won’t even program their GPS systems to…  Cheeni Kum dealt with an old guy (Amitabh Bachchan) who falls for a younger woman (Tabu) and the older I get the bigger a treat that film is. Paa with Amitabh playing a 12 year old with a rare genetic condition - deservedly scooped awards left right and centre, and Balki’s last Shamitabh was a  novel idea about a mute actor (Dhanush) who uses a hobo’s voice (Amitabh again) to secure stardom but unfortunately it stopped at being just that - a novel idea - plus there’s one other little movie that I can’t ignore English Vinglish which he produced about Sridevi mastering the English language to the utter surprise of her family which sums up just how innovative a filmmaker he is, and how gender agnostic and gender embracing his subjects are.

Amitabh has become a permanent fixture in Balki’s movies even making a memorable cameo in English Vinglish and his cameo here is stunning. 

It's one of those, now I remember why I love the Big B moments.

Balki calls on his advertising background to create a setting that matches the mood of the proceedings, always applying a modern, contemporary feel to it. 

The dialogues are equally snappy, “I’ve got my chums” says Kia raising the red flag. It’s cute. And since the movie unfolds almost episodically there are some memorable moments, the maid scene, the Dharmendra Delhi bus episode, the stairwell scene in the hospital etc etc. 

The one scene that was hilarious but didn’t really answer a key question as to how their relationship would eventually deal with reaching a crossroads was the pregnancy test scene. I am still wondering what would they do?

Admittedly this blog has been written tongue in cheek, but the film is not all tongue in cheek. 
As much as most of the situations have been conveniently set up so as not to over challenge its audience, Ki & Ka still manages to touch on an important issue that ego and jealousy will destroy any relationship not just one where we are wondering about who wears the pants in it.

I’m recommending it. I enjoyed it. It made me feel content. 

And that's it, I'm off to try to convince my wife to set up my man cave to look like a train set or better still the Star Wars Millennium Falcon… 

May the force be with me!