Director: R Balki
Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Kapoor
Ki And Ka is a brilliant idea. They've turn the tables on the gender game. They've sneaked in a bit of social critique. They've tried to break down the symbiosis of males and females in the social, political and emotional realms. It all sounds good. But when you get down to tackling the bull by its proverbial horns, you realise, all the logic and math in the world can't make sense, if you haven't put your soul into it. Ideas are nurtured best, when you believe in taking them somewhere, not just letting them develop ad hoc. That's what happens with Ki And Ka. It goes from being a novel idea to going absolutely nowhere. The sophisticated mind will tell you, you don't always need a result. But when you don't get a result you hit the drawing board and ask, 'why?' That is not a good proposition for a film. Definitely not for one promising to entertain.
The story of Ki And Ka is all there in its trailer. If you've not seen the trailer, it deals with a unique couple, where the girl is ambitious and wants to become a corporate success, while the guy wants to be a homemaker. They get married and their relationship challenges the diktat of gender dynamics. What the trailer doesn't give you is the conflict in the story and it's resolution. The reason the film doesn't give you these possibilities either is because they're absent. There is a conflict of interests between the lead characters. It leads to a bit of shouting and a regular married couple's fight. It's followed by an apology and things are resolved within minutes, not just minutes of screenplay time, but minutes of situational time as well. There's nothing more on offer.
Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan look like they're giving it their best shot. He's striking a fine balance between being intense and charming. She's looking absolutely gorgeous and even managing streaks of brilliance in acting. They don't ever convince you of being a great couple. But you don't mind the iffy chemistry because that works for their story. But the point is, their story never graduates from the set up. It looks like it's building up, but it never does. Underplay is an actor's job, but R Balki, the writer/director, employs a little too much underplay with the script and screenplay. He had the right ideas, but he explores them half-heartedly. Never doing any justice to his own thoughts or efforts.
Apart from the writing, there are issues with the editing of Ki And Ka. The gaping holes in quality in these two departments can't be saved, even by the peppy music of Mithoon, Meet Bros. Anjjan and Ilaiyaraaja. Not even by charisma of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, who play phenomenal cameos in the movie. If only R Balki had built on the idea of having this couple play a more consequential role in the film.
A good idea gone bad is a common fact in Hindi cinema. But since we're on the subject of ideas, here's one. What if R Balki is playing a practical joke on all of us, on the occasion of April 1st? Food for thought?
Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Kapoor
Ki And Ka is a brilliant idea. They've turn the tables on the gender game. They've sneaked in a bit of social critique. They've tried to break down the symbiosis of males and females in the social, political and emotional realms. It all sounds good. But when you get down to tackling the bull by its proverbial horns, you realise, all the logic and math in the world can't make sense, if you haven't put your soul into it. Ideas are nurtured best, when you believe in taking them somewhere, not just letting them develop ad hoc. That's what happens with Ki And Ka. It goes from being a novel idea to going absolutely nowhere. The sophisticated mind will tell you, you don't always need a result. But when you don't get a result you hit the drawing board and ask, 'why?' That is not a good proposition for a film. Definitely not for one promising to entertain.
The story of Ki And Ka is all there in its trailer. If you've not seen the trailer, it deals with a unique couple, where the girl is ambitious and wants to become a corporate success, while the guy wants to be a homemaker. They get married and their relationship challenges the diktat of gender dynamics. What the trailer doesn't give you is the conflict in the story and it's resolution. The reason the film doesn't give you these possibilities either is because they're absent. There is a conflict of interests between the lead characters. It leads to a bit of shouting and a regular married couple's fight. It's followed by an apology and things are resolved within minutes, not just minutes of screenplay time, but minutes of situational time as well. There's nothing more on offer.
Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan look like they're giving it their best shot. He's striking a fine balance between being intense and charming. She's looking absolutely gorgeous and even managing streaks of brilliance in acting. They don't ever convince you of being a great couple. But you don't mind the iffy chemistry because that works for their story. But the point is, their story never graduates from the set up. It looks like it's building up, but it never does. Underplay is an actor's job, but R Balki, the writer/director, employs a little too much underplay with the script and screenplay. He had the right ideas, but he explores them half-heartedly. Never doing any justice to his own thoughts or efforts.
Apart from the writing, there are issues with the editing of Ki And Ka. The gaping holes in quality in these two departments can't be saved, even by the peppy music of Mithoon, Meet Bros. Anjjan and Ilaiyaraaja. Not even by charisma of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, who play phenomenal cameos in the movie. If only R Balki had built on the idea of having this couple play a more consequential role in the film.
A good idea gone bad is a common fact in Hindi cinema. But since we're on the subject of ideas, here's one. What if R Balki is playing a practical joke on all of us, on the occasion of April 1st? Food for thought?
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