Ki and Ka

About the film

Ki & Ka (transl. Hers & His) is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written, directed and produced by R. Balki. The film stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Kapoor. It was released theatrically on 1 April 2016 to mixed reviews and became a hit, grossing over ₹100.33 crore (US$11 million) worldwide.

Plot

Kia is a motivated, driven woman who aims to become successful in the business world and also wishes that more women aspire to prosper in their careers. Kabir is the laid-back son of a successful building constructor, who does not wish to take over his father's company or inherit his wealth.

The pair meet, quickly become friends, and gradually fall in love. They realise that Kabir's preference to stay at home fits perfectly with Kia's wish to climb up the corporate ladder. The couple marries, and Kabir becomes a ghar jamai after the disapproval of his father. Kia and Kabir establish a relationship where Kabir handles the daily household affairs, while Kia is the main breadwinner. Kia rises quickly in her career, and she is soon interviewed about her success. During the interview, Kia mentions her 'unusual' marriage and her husband's role in their household. The interviewer is impressed by this and requests a meeting with Kabir. While being questioned, Kabir explains that it does not matter if ki (feminine Hindi pronoun) takes up the role of ka (masculine Hindi pronoun), and ka takes up the role of ki.

The interview is very well received, and Kabir is asked to hold many more seminars and speeches on gender equality and modern marriages. Kabir's busy schedule causes a strain in the marriage, causing Kia to become jealous of her husband's newfound fame. She accuses Kabir of using their relationship to get recognition and publicity, and asks him to stop making public appearances.

Production

Balki finished the script in July 2015. The film derives its title from linguistic gender divisions of the Hindi language found in the words "ladki" and "ladka", meaning "girl" and "boy". He said, ""In Hindi not just human beings but also nonliving objects have gender. Everybody and everything is categorised. But this film, like the couple's marriage, underlines the fact that Ki and Ka as genders don't matter."

Release

The early estimate for the film's box office revenue on the first day was around ₹67.5 million (US$710,000) net. The film managed to pick up record collections of ₹72.5 million (US$760,000) approximately on the first day. It earned ₹82.5 million (US$860,000) on second day. The film earned ₹92.5 million (US$970,000) on third day. The film had a decent weekend, though the trend was not great for a content urban film. The weekend business of Ki & Ka was ₹248 million (US$2.6 million). Ki & Ka had the normal Monday drop of around 50%. A ₹35.0 million (US$370,000) nett plus Monday is reasonable for the film. Ki & Ka held very well on 5th day with a very limited drop of around 6–7%, film earned ₹32.5 million (US$340,000) on 5th day. The film had a decent first week of ₹370 million (US$3.9 million) nett approx. in India.

The film earned ₹390 million (US$4.1 million) in eight days.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album features songs composed by Meet Bros for the T-Series label besides having an original song composed by Balki's regular collaborator Ilaiyaraaja, who has also composed the background score of the movie.

Lyrics have been penned by Kumaar, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Sayeed Quadri. The soundtrack was released on 25 February 2016.

Critical reception

Critic Rajeev Masand rated the film 2/5, writing, "Ki & Ka arrives with a curious premise, but Balki fails to flesh it out into an engaging film. I was especially pleased to see Kareena Kapoor sink her teeth into a solid role after what seems like an eternity. Arjun Kapoor deserves credit for taking a role that few male stars would, but both actors are let down by the inert writing." Anupama Chopra also rated it 2/5. She reasoned that "One of the enduring problems with Balki's films persists – his crackling concept runs out of steam. It's almost as if he spends so much of his creative energy coming up with the high-wire idea that he has none left to flesh out the narrative around it." Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3 stars out of 5, and stated, "On the whole, Ki & Ka is a cleverly crafted feel-good film that packs all the emotions. Though it has strong performances by both Arjun and Kareena, the film is bound to draw extreme reactions from the orthodox audiences who may find the premise difficult to digest. It is an urban progressive film and should appeal more to women and young married couples." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2 stars and termed it as "rocky" while commenting that "The film is fun when it is setting up the roles. But the execution, as it goes along, gets rocky. Much of it stays episodic, and starts reinforcing the very stereotypes it set ou…

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