Ki & Ka offers a satirical examination of the long-held perceptions of the roles in an Indian marriage. But in doing so, the film sacrifices character-building and good story-telling at the altar of novelty. It’s like a visiting a click-bait site – tempting inducements get you to click on a link, but gauzy content leaves you disappointed.
The film casts an unusual Bollywood pair – a senior actress who is riding into the sunset after a decade at the top and a young Turk hungry to make his mark. They are a few years apart in age both in life and on screen and are well cast for their roles. While Kabir is the son of a rich real estate mogul who wants to be a home maker like his late mother, Kia is a marketing executive and a climber who has dreams of being a CEO. His need to be a home maker fits like a glove into her need for a marriage without a man being envious of her ambition.
Balki takes time to set the story up ostensibly to explain Kabir’s view of the world – why he wants to be a home maker and Kia’s take on a woman’s role in a marriage. It’s like a freshman course one has to take before starting the real one and it robs the film of much needed momentum right at the start. Having done that, he moves them from having met and dated to getting married in double quick time leaving the viewer exasperated. Only when he starts exploring the day to day issues that married couples face, with the roles reversed, does the film pick up pace and interest. Long time Balki collaborator, Ilayaraja's usual synth-pop music score makes an ineffectual appearance every now and then.
The most impressive bits of the film are when the two characters begin to doubt their respective approach to the relationship. Kabir begins to realize that Kia’s ambition is something he is growing tired of and Kia suspects that Kabir’s comely attitude towards her ambition could be a tactic to build a brand for himself as a unique home maker. But he falters again as he builds up to a denouement that’s as vapid an experience for the viewer, as watching paint dry. As a director, Balki’s scene construction and his camera movements leave one flummoxed. Maybe it is an ad film maker’s curse, but the quivery and quaky handling of the camera becomes distracting as the story moves on. It’s one of those rare one or two-set movies where most of the action takes place in an office or an apartment and he creates a nice little world for these characters to inhabit.
Both actors Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor-Khan do a sincere job in an undercooked plot that doesn’t serve their acting abilities well. Kareena as Kia has the more complex role than Arjun’s and she shows glimpses of the kind of actress she can be if she gets a good director and part. The refreshing presence of Swaroop Sampath is wasted in a poorly constructed mother character that is only too happy to let things change in her house without even a murmur of protest. The immensely talented Rajit Kapoor is wasted in a one-dimensional role as Kabir’s disapproving father.
Balki has set a high standard for himself on making good films that are unusual. He delivers only on the latter here.
