R. Balki is a noted director, specially for picking up fairly novel concepts , breaking stereotypes, confronting present era problems but also akin to giving the same concept, quick-fix handling of plot and treating it with half-baked scripts.It’s like novelty, which comes wrapped in traditions. His earlier films “Cheeni Kum” , “Pa” and “Shamitabh” , all were stories offering something new on the “silver screen”. While the first two were critically and commercially successful , the later was a dud.”Ki and Ka” falls in the third category, an exciting fresh concept with  precisely tried-and-true treatment.  A well made trailer had us excited enough to rush into near theatres but the film goofs up in the middle with mixed messages. Balki gives a very superficial screenplay to an ambitious concept.

A romance and wedding tale, told differently ,where wifey is an ambitious workaholic and the man is by choice “house-husband”.”She” is current generation’s clear visioned, fiery, smart, independent woman who thinks marriage and kids are big trap for her career advancements, to the extent that she terribly brings down her own best friend’s wedding very unfairly. The first time she meet him, “he” is weeping with no shame in public, son  of a millionaire who doesn’t encashes his dad’s credit cards,  manly enough to beat goons ,charming, likes whisky and women but doesn’t want to end as corporate robo and aspires to be an artist like his mom, here meaning “homemaker”. They both are raised by single parents, both are little lonely on relationship fronts and both are major misfits on the ideal category of prospective bride and groom. After some rush-rush meetings and eventually realising how perfectly the fit with each other , they marry. But with the courtship ending, seems all fun ends too. Their after marriage problems are “Abhimaan” in reverse gender but so much shallower in significance and intensity that even audience feels tracked out in the mid of story.

Kia’s character has been drawn beautifully , she is relatable to every second present age urban women. Kareena Kapoor illuminates the screen every time she appears,  she has grown into a seasoned actress. She exudes beauty, strength, insecurity, jealousy , wickedness, playfulness and poise with similar perfection. On the other hand, Kabir has been drawn with many confusions inherited .He loves to stay at home, cook , clean, attend kitty parties and is not ashamed of his choices but at at one point he has to prove his manliness deliberately ,according to the screenplay ,by beating up the goons. Arjun Kapoor might have been the almost perfect cast for Kabir as he brings masculine strength, aggressiveness, goofiness as well as an unseen caring and nurturing, feminine side of the men but he falls short while carrying out some of the very crucial scenes. The restaurant scene where Kabir confronts Kia in an over-the-top yelling tone while telling story of his mother, is the price that audiences pays to watch mediocre “star-kids”. It is upon the director to tame his/her actors appropriately to align them along with characters. While Balki directs Kareena better than most of her previous directors, he fails with Arjun Kapoor.

Script written by R.Balki is shallow and superficial, although, he manages to raise many acceptable points on feminism but at the same time it comes with convenient and traditional plots, problems and their solutions. It does encompasses some of the really funny situations inspired by real life daily household chores and professional events such as couple’s confrontation with their parents, Kabir’s dealing with the housemaid, society’s other housewives, Kia’s colleagues but the problem slips in between them in a very predictable way which ultimately makes the climax almost easy to guess, no surprise element. Some sensibly placed moments such as Arjun Kapoor wearing “Mangalsutra” or asking money for grocery expenses and Kareena loosing cool on finding nothing to eat at home after office or Arjun partying with other housewives in his free afternoon will definitely bring a smile on audience’s face. A guest appearance by Mr. and Mrs. Bachchan as celebration of R. Balki’s fandom towards Star of the Millennium comes as a relieving whiff of fresh air, they both steal the show and we almost feel to be there in Bachchan’s home, dining with them.

Dialogues for the film make up for the messy scenes and P.C Sreeram’s cinematography work wonders like Balki’s earlier films. Train-lovers are going to be fascinated by the way romance of trains has been weaved into the plot. I would also like to give an additional point for Kareena’s suave professional wardrobe.

Well, the film does give a strong lesson on feminism with men and women being on equal level in all fronts and not confusing feminism as women having upper-hand over men, but audiences are going to leave cinema hall with mixed messages. Kareena lovers should go and relish her evolved performance.