Ki se Ka and Ka se Ki…

Slap a child and ask him or her to pick up the Chips pack that was just devoured…chances are rebellion will stretch in that little body…SHOW A FUNNY CUTE BONNY toon stating the Merits and make Cleaning up a Glamorous thing to do…child will jump skip and hop to the dustbin with the litter packs and throw it and feel useful…

We Humans are all Kids in our own ways…deeply holding on to our conditioning…about how a certain thing is to be done…our Prejudice about what makes a Good person…we hold onto dear life before we change even a fraction of it…If we let go…what would we have then??? Criticism…Ridicule…

But Life is all about changing…dolloping a little smile...making your small decisions to be different…and accept the consequences…and yet being ready for those in between emotions that surround and envelop all human beings…

Now why would I write all this in a Movie Review…?

Movies are my lifelines…it’s from there that my command over Hindi and Marathi comes…It’s from there I have seen and absorbed changes in Indian Cinema and scenarios…It reflects …makes me think and do inner sweeping time and again...I am blessed with a filmy family..I have lead a roller coaster life…

Found my Ka! We alternate roles of being a Ki at times and Ka at times to the other…My Ka unabashedly cries when I hurt him…and takes money from my purse when he runs out of it…he cooks when I am blogging and /or Tired....I am the Ka sometimes as I too shoulder the added responsibility of working to pay bills…so I have found my Happily ever after…and when the Movie and specially a Man called "Arjun Kapoor" with Dead pan expression tugs at my Happily Ever After, I write…

My world is pink Candy floss and mush strawberry dripping honey…

My heart believes in happy endings and working out issues…

My mind gives out and accepts nuances in human shade …all kinds of emotions are there…to experience and understand…

My soul believes in forgiving…after being the meanest and getting back stronger and wiser…

My being believes in teaching by real life examples on how to be…I have two growing sons and Some gals  are going to thank me or hate me for them…in future…

So ….Ki and Ka is a perfect Demo of a light hearted way of being…

already I have put in a Blog on #ArjunKapoor why to do or overdo it again…???

Because he just fills the screen …my heart…my mind with a fluff of all things nice and possible and romantic..in a fairy tale sort-a-way…
Did I mention I know nothing of film Technicalities...screenplay...editing...effects...go bonkers for me...For me what appeals is The Visual Panorama it offers...My eyes have to like what I see...For me If the Screen Persona make me feel and Think ...

I would go back to the Movie again and again...for all my years ,there is A Child who believes in Fairy Tales ...

Now if I were to look at the fairy tale with the eyes of a child…why ever would I question too much…I would accept everything it says...and much later…I would enjoy the fairy tale for it fills me up warm and dreamy feel...and wanting to hear it again and again…oops...see the movie again and again…For it points to a possibility…a realm that can bring happiness…that can break shackles of self-imposed role rules to be followed…I write, so I document my own echoes at having witnessed a beautiful thing…

For those two odd hours I devoured each refreshing scene…This movie is ARJUN KAPOOR…all the way…he runs the show…he steals the thunder…he REIGNS …

The very first scene he breaks the myth…Boys cry…all tears rolling down and sniffles…why??

Becoz you cry regardless of whether you are a boy or a girl…you sniffle…when you “Miss someone” and if that happens to be your Mom…well…you just do…
Its Sadist to admit that I enjoyed the Saawan Bhado on that Dead Pan wooden face all let loose unleashed tears…and the tear stained explanation of why he is in that state…no apologetic guilt there…sho shweeeeettt…now he could have cried a little more there…he looked so cuteeee and adorable…and equally flat repartee from Kia…Please get him his mom…simple natural…clear portrayal…

Men sniffle…women do not have to be their mumma the moment they see a nose running…Classs…Common sense…

Our Ka is Intelligent and sorted and has a philosophy of life…

Ka has a father who is a millionaire…Ka is a topper in MBA from a reputed institute...he does not carry it as his Medal up his sleeve to impress. He is definitely not a Loser to want to depend on a woman for financial support but he has plans of not climbing the corporate ladder…as he asks “What are we running after?” “Only to end up in a state of the art hospital and be grateful for affording it?”

Point…simple psychological tip to avoid Breakdowns…Kabeer is cool in an inimitable way that comes out of imbibing the philosophy to the core . He can accept with a straight face “I cannot pay for that double scotch you ordered!” No show off…noo games to impress the girl. Boys go to such lengths to woo women with a false sense of wealth…from Bassanio in Merchant of Venice to Mumbai college scenes…Boys try to look swanky and suave on borrowed money to show lands that never exist  to their lady love…Our Arjun ran the risk of sounding Bitter or "you owe me" but he simply puts forward a situation. Take it or leave it…You have to take it…he is so so enigmatic..unless Kia unravels him why shall she let him go???

KA is Resourceful Creative and SO WELL MANNERED…He questions…

Today’s young boys swear at the drop of the Hat to subdue…impress...intimidate…to make a point…or simply strut around as a fetch-able commodity…but Ka did not…wait  a minute…

Ka is a Man….!!!!

He does not have to...he has a strong logic and sorted theories to make you think!!!

He asks Kia “you do not want a man to not look down on your ambition and accept your Corporate rise…will you in the same vein accept my lack of ambition?” Gentle…concisely worded and delivered query…not only to Kia…but to the Audience as a whole??? Are we ready to shed our prejudices…long held notions of what a man or woman can do...we talk of women empowerment…gender equality...are we ready for empowering human beings and accept changes???

He asks his Mom in law “would you tell your future daughter in law that she is looking for becoming a home maker…as looking for free lunch?” So why not me???

He happily asks for money to run the house…negotiates with the maid and lays down the rule…creates a train to get food back and forth…signs of a creative Homemaker who looks for making the Abode best place to be…

He is Virile and Macho…yet tender and resourceful...

While doing all this…not Once …not even for a fraction of a second did Arjun…our Ka once over steps from one role…he is a homemaker…the feminine force..the nurturing one…but his mannerisms do not bend down to pansy if you know what I mean…he is every bit his rugged self…huggable…cute-able…teddy cuddly bear…

He is capable of beating the goons…and smile over the Dharmendra compliment…he is tender enough to remove her shoes when she comes tired….

And get ten Pregnancy testing kits when outta panic Kia throws a fit...instead of taking an offence at “you want to ruin my career…like a typical Hindi do…” He brings her solace …stands outside the washroom till it all subsides and lovingly gather her in the arms… "Its our Problem not yours...how did you think that?"

Not only he is a lovely homemaker but also resourceful when it comes to getting extra moolah to buy a house… without compromising his homemaker status…He is equally Comfortable in his Skin and gently asks Kia "Are you ashamed of me??" When She tells others "He is writing a Book!!"Kia brings in a Universal Conditioned attitude...We are so hard pressed to explain our way if life that its a "Shortcut" to simply Wave it off with an excuse...She proudly declares though ...Kia is quick to Accept her mistake and Make amends...
Not a decaying Persona...

He is Famous…
as he brings his different perspective to role viewing in our country not in a sermonizing way but as if it is the most natural way of being. He is so captivating with explaining his existence and choice he garners publicity and attention so much so that Jaya Bhaduri wants to Meet the Boy…

She sums it up...I stayed home for I had no choice in that choice…also she expresses she could not be standing by the balcony instead of Amitabh Bachchan…So often what society perpetrates is what we have voluntarily or involuntarily accepted as gender roles…

What a person will wear is decided by the long held societal norms…And later they become so staunchly embedded in our psyche that we accept them as A Given…Ka breaks another myth casually by creating a bracelet out of a Neck piece called Mangal Sutra...as long as he treasures it…but Arjun so deftly does it…you have to be fine tuned to catch that nuance…I did and I found it immensely endearing…
Ka has a Sense of Humour...
Is ghar ke Mardon ko Aurat ki Jarurat thi...simple thing pointed out cheekily...Womanly force looks for order...Manly force chooses to overlook it...Many such moments will stay with me as I watch again and again..

KI AND KA ARE BOTH HUMANS…

Who ever does the dish or swipes the credit card…they both cannot escape the juxtapose of relationship. Jealousy is an insidious serpent that silently finds it's way through your being and strike in the meanest way possible…

Kia comes late…Kabeer is cool…Kia spends more time in conference leaving him  alone...he is cool about it…quips in  humorously “Except my wife I'm honeymooning with everyone else!”

Yet that one moment when she stays up talking to an American and fails to introduce him…jealousy raises its mean accusatory head with …go sleep with him…thankfully, they passionately make up…

Kia is OK when Kabeer is romping with females on the beach...Kia is fine while Kabeer gives a diet plan and gymming lessons to more than a dozen women…but the moment Limelight shifts on Him with Praise and invites on Talks on his way of being given Spotlight…something shifts in Kia…she resorts to Sarcastic taunts on putting Down Kabeer as “Gaining Fame out of doing Nothing!” and hitting the panic button on seeing his absence during her Mom’s Crisis…

Typically Hindi movie calls for Tragic separations and lectures on trust…

R BALKI…TAKE A BOW…

Kia fortunately is intelligent enough to realize if Kabeer was not there so was she absent and that she has been the Mean one here…Earlier she had accepted ,Kabeer manages the home so she can fly

The enlightenment comes in with the realization that the conflict is on the one who earns getting attention and adulation…and reacting with the shifting of it…

Refreshing…

We are human beings first given to all our follies and foibles…our little envies…our bigger peeves…and yet at the end of it; finding out about them…accepting...forgiving...that is what our Ki and Ka do…they forgive each other…

An important lesson to all the Young ones who so simply run to sign the divorce applications…sometimes the issues are simply a tangle of personalities…realizing...accepting…tenderly forgiving…and growing forms the Fabric of every Happy Ending…

It's not the Gender that causes the rift…it's not the society that needs to change…Each one of us needs to hold the prejudice by the tongs of reason and sensitivity...understanding our quirks…making the effort to hang on just one more time…saying sorry just one more time…believing in a rainbow just one more time...putting aside the bygones just another time and growing...

Growing into beautiful examples of beings for their children to emulate and find their happily ever after...not leaving them bitter for future about love…for love does exist...we just need to believe in it...and hang in there…

Dearest Arjun…
the next decade belongs to you…keep choosing such bold roles that bring us to the cinema...make us think without sermonizing and long drawn lectures…I admire your gumption to be able to pick up that Mop or push the bill of the hotel to other side…you made us think that another kind of existence is possible and come out in the open and talk about it without batting those humor filled eyes...that are surmising the other’s Discomfort…that gooey smile that other is cringing but not showing…Your Mom would be truly proud of the Lovely Guy she has contributed to this Indian Cinema...A comfortable Man who thinks and makes one think...Think of her as a loving soul who is watching over you and sending Blessings and Love !

You make a Homemaker truly Glamorous and coveted role…You actually endorsed a profession for so many KAs..that soon we will have new Moms claiming…Mera Beta toh Arjun jesa Smart KA bunna Chahta he…I am almost feeling that GOOEY smile just about lop siding…Come back with a suitable Repartee young Chap…

P.S : I SO WISH I WAS INFLUENTIAL LIKE Jaya Bachchan that I can say I want to meet this Boy…Loads of love to a lovely KA…always surprise us…

             

                                                               -by Sonnal Pardiwala

© Sonnal Pardiwala. All Rights Reserved.

*The writer claims no rights over the images used in this post.