Expectations

R. Balki impressed all the cinema lovers by narrating an interesting tale of a sixty four year old chef falling in love with a thirty four year old girl in the movie 'Cheeni Kum'. He presented the film in a witty manner due to which the acceptance of such film became easy and overwhelming. The ace ad maker managed to sell one of his toughest product in such an easy manner. His next film 'Paa' achieved something unimaginable by showing Amitabh Bachchan in such a path breaking mode. Despite of having some fantastic performances in 'Shamitabh', the movie failed to match up to the fine works of R.Balki. His latest film 'Ki & Ka' starts for the first time relatively younger actors and talks about the gender role reversals in today's times. The promos look appealing and with R. Balki's past expertise the expectation level is very high with this promising film.

Story

'Ki & Ka' is a story of an ambitious girl Kia (Kareena Kapoor) who dreams of achieving the best in the corporate world. One fine day Kia meets Kabir (Arjun Kapoor), who wants to follow the footsteps of his mother and live a life as a homemaker. Opposites attract and finally Kabir and Kia get married and decides to play a role reversal in their lives. Kia seeks out to achieve her goals, while Kabir decides to set up a wonderful world for Kia and her mother (Swaroop Sampat). Things sail smoothly for a while until, a phase where jealousy and insecurity starts to overpower one of them. The movie narrates about the testing times of Kia and Kabir.

The 'Glitz' Factor

The one liner story idea is brilliantly interesting. There is a high amount of curiosity related to the role reversal of the main protagonist. The movie is flooded with many wonderful moments featuring Arjun Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Swaroop Sampat. These scenes keep you indulged in the film along with one key sequence featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. This track is enjoyable, enriching and one of the sweetest moment of the film. The daily happenings and peek into the life of Arjun Kapoor is one of the most interesting part of this film. The dialogues are witty as well as filmy at times. The music of 'Ki & Ka' is good with some chartbuster songs like 'High Heels' and 'Most Wanted Munda'. 'Ji Huzoori' and 'Foolishq' goes well with the flow of the film. Director R Balki is known for giving us some great films like 'Cheeni Kum' and 'Paa' followed by extracting some great performances in 'Shamitabh'. Here, in 'Ki & Ka' he sets up an interesting tale which has a huge novelty factor attached to it. He also manages to extract some good performances from the lead actors. Arjun Kapoor has a great character and he tries hard to match up to its level. Kareena Kapoor looks great and slips easily in her half-baked character. She displays her expertise as an actress and does full justice to her role. Swaroop Sampat is fantastic and would have loved to see more of her. Cameo by Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan is outstanding.

The 'Non-Glitz' Factor

The great moments get diluted due to weak screenplay and lack of dramatic moments in the film, especially in the second half of the film. The repetitive gender comments tend to bore you after a while. Few scenes were not at all justified nor relevant with the flow of the film. There was no hardship in the entire film as everything sails smoothly in this film. The climax is the lamest part of the film and required something more to rise above and leave a memorable impression of the film. The writers could have done much more with this superb idea, which had full potential of becoming a great film by its own. The movie has overdose of in-film brand endorsement of more than a dozen products at frequent intervals. The cinematography is not up to the mark. Bad zooming and abrupt cuts irritates you to the fullest. The movie has its heart and soul in place but, has been stretched to the fullest. It also lacks the conviction factor at times and fails to justify the unnecessary problematic scenes of the film. The repetitive scenes and overdose of gender equality tends to irritate you after a point. Arjun Kapoor looks super bulky and out of place at times. Rajit Kapoor hams to the fullest.

Final 'Glitz'

'Ki & Ka' is like having an old wine in a fancy bottle presented in a totally interesting manner. The family audience will enjoy the role reversal part from this movie, while others will find hard to digest this film due to the lack of conviction factor, followed by weak screenplay and repetitive elements which are stretched to the fullest.