Ki & Ka

The film’s plot follows a young, married couple whose relationship challenges the gender roles placed upon women and men in Indian society.

As is the case with Balki always, he comes up with an interestingly fresh idea for his films. ‘Cheeni Kum’, ‘PA’, ‘Shamitabh’ and now ‘KI & KA”, all bring something truly new to the table. However, unlike his first two films where his execution was bang-on, with ‘Shamitabh’ he faltered owing to overindulgence, leading to an uninteresting second half. Now, perhaps to improve on his previous mistake, Balki keeps things very, very simple with “KI & KA”. But what this does, is take away the fun that a layered screenplay could bring with especially this subject. The topic is definitely labyrinthian, and raises several significant discussion points. It’s sad to see this matter being handled so insensitively, and that too of all people, by R. Balki.

The film has an extremely light undertone which consistently prevails throughout the two hours of its runtime. No real effort goes into creating the characters that you see on screen. It’s like an artist presenting his painting with rough sketches. It’s hard to find an emotional connect, intense enough to leave a mark. The screenplay is paced hastily, almost abruptly jumping scenes and the narrative is just too surface level for one’s liking. While you are kept interested in what’s unfolding on screen, it all feels like eating junk food that never really satiates your hunger.

The sets and plot pieces are connected, but the underlying lack of seriousness makes the whole exercise seem totally futile. If the film intended to bring a change, I’m afraid, it fails miserably. It needed a script far meatier than what’s actually served, to even leave a small mark. Most love-making scenes are also inserted for no real reason. The songs too are forgettable.

The performances are far from real. There’s exaggeration in each portrayal and despite roping in highly competent actors, the whole drama seems manipulated. Kareena Kapoor is undoubtedly a very fine actor, but her character is sketched inadequately, almost a caricature of what ought to be. Arjun Kapoor plays his part appropriately, but is failed by the deficiency in the writing. All others in the supporting cast overplay consistently, considerably reducing the effect of the drama on-screen.

To sum up, “KI & KA” is a classic case of ‘Good-Idea-Bad-Execution”. It’s never boring, but never satiating either. At best a decent one-time watch!