R.Balki’s Ki and Ka tells what happens if a couple switched socially acknowledged roles within their marriage? Would their relationship survive societal insult, disparagement and individual insecurities if he somehow happened to be a stay-at-home life partner and she is the breadwinner?

Story: Delhi-based Kabir Bansal (Arjun Kapoor) is in line to inherit his father’s multi-crore business conglomerate. Kabir wants to be like his mother because he believes being a homemaker is nothing short of being an artist. One day, he meets a rising corporate star, Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan), and tries desperately to woo her. However, it’s a daunting task for one simple reason: Kia is unusually ambitious and doesn’t want the marriage to hinder her flight before reaching to the top. Eventually they get married. While Kabir cooks, cleans and supports her from home, Kia becomes a VP in her company and supports him financially. Cracks appear. Tensions arise. They fight. They make up. They move on.

What’s Hot: There is no denying that Ki and Ka has a decent idea. The questions that arise from the starting point of Ki & Ka are no doubt intriguing. They are ever relevant too, in a world that upholds stereotypical gender roles within households, with horribly regressive expressions such as “she wears the pants”. India has its own backward vocabulary, like that pejorative term for a man who has the courage to cock a snook at convention and live in his in-laws’ home: ghar jamai.

Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan also feature in the film, but those are the best moments of this film. The conversation between Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan is so real and hard hitting that it forces you to re-examine the situation carefully.

What’s Not: Ki & Ka is an important film because it talks about some unconventional and rather tough relationship goals, but it mostly remains a film which is immensely in love with melodrama. The characters converse in a strange tone and have outbursts at regular intervals. Ki & Ka suffers because of the narrative’s failure to weave each of these passages smoothly together. The result is a patchy, episodic feel.

Performances: The lead actors’ spontaneity saves this 126-minute film. Both Arjun and Kareena look at ease and are ably supported by Swaroop Sampat and Rajit Kapoor. Kareena Kapoor’s best comes out in the scene where she delivers a long monologue on being manipulative. Only if the dialogues could have been as natural as she could. Arjun Kapoor focuses on being the most lovable male around and succeeds.

Over all, Ki & Ka isn’t a strong voice against gender stereotyping, but it’s one of its kind in mainstream Hindi film industry, and that makes it notice-worthy.