Ki and Ka Trailer: Some Stereotypes against the Stereotypes

So, the much awaited trailer of R Balki’s Ki and Ka is out. To begin with, I was intrigued because of the title which did not immediately give away anything. I was never a big fan of Arjun Kapoor or Kareena Kapoor but their odd pairing sounded interesting, although newbie Bollywood fans unaware of its dynasties might mistake her for his real-life cousin.

Anyways the trailer more or less works because of the interesting concept, that of a man who willingly becomes a homemaker to his highly career oriented wife. So, Arjun Kapoor repeats his usual North Indian guy routine, but he is more sensitive and evolved here. More importantly he is devoid of typical masculine pride to accept this gender role reversal.

While the man and the woman are cool with their respective choices, as expected, the problem arises from other people, such as their relatives, peers, and various random people that they meet at various points. However, the tone has been kept light with sharp wit and surprising chemistry between the leads. In fact, it is their chemistry that drives the trailer and will probably drive the whole film. It is the maximum number of time I have seen Kareena lock her lips with anyone in any full-length film, forget just a trailer! Probably she is making a statement herself, going beyond all the flowerpots she got to play in many films against much bigger male stars.

As for the film itself, it looks like most of Balki’s past works, smart and sharp but not quite a masterpiece. The idea is interesting, at least in the Indian context where such an arrangement is still a rarity, but the situations and dialogues are not above usual stereotypes. For instance, there is a scene where the man has to reassert his masculinity by thrashing some goons in a bus (if that was a Nirbhaya reference then it was not a good one), in order to win extra adulation from his wife. Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to this film as it is surely better than most trailers I have seen of late. Have a look at the trailer here.