Kareena Kapoor Khan bowls over Sharjah with her candour
- 06 Nov 2023
Raghib Hassan, Staff Reporter
Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor Khan charmed her fans at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) on Saturday evening. The huge ballroom of Expo Centre was packed to the rafters, looking short of space when the heroine of Bollywood ascended on the stage. The moment she became visible to the eagerly-awaiting audience while heading towards the stage, everybody irrespective of age kept their cameras higher and higher to get a glimpse of the superstar. Dressed in pink, Kareena simply bowled over the Sharjah audience. Known for giving films such as “Kabhi Khush Kabhie Gham,”(2001) “Jab We Met,” (2007) “Omkara” (2007), Kurban (2009), “3 Idiots” (2009), and “Heroine” (2012), Kareena is one of the finest actors of her generation. She is a natural actor. The way she gets into the skin of any character shows how skilfully she does her job. That’s why perhaps she has never ever shied away from experimenting her character and her filmography says it all. The actor was in Sharjah to talk about her book, “Pregnancy Bible.” She wanted to share her experience of going through the process of motherhood with a global audience. Talking about that, she said, “It is a book that is one for the shelf. I have addressed so many issues a woman goes through during her journey of motherhood. It is a human account of what I went through. So I feel anybody who wants to know about this journey can pick up the book. It is about feelings. That’s why I want people to read it.”
She added, “In my career I have gone through different stages of my body, from being a chubby girl to attaining size zero. I am basically a foodie. My weight was 45kg at one time, and to be that was very difficult and tough. So I have done that. Now I am in this place where I love myself in whatever way I am, whatever age or whatever stage of life. I have learnt to just embrace everything with love.”
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Replying to a question, on how she stayed so confident throughout her career, she said, “I am confident because of my fans. Because of all the love and nurturing that people are giving to me. All actors are like plants. They need to grow. Like a plant, you need to keep watering it to grow. You need to keep loving me. Every actor wants that. Love and nurturing are what keep us moving.” Defining beauty she said, “Beauty is a relative term. You have to feel it. You can feel beautiful anytime of the day you want to feel. You don’t need a designer’s clothes or the red carpet look to feel beautiful. My children make me feel beautiful when they see me in the morning and hug me.”
Praising today’s generation of women she said, “Today’s generation of women knows how to balance work and family. Is there anything women can’t do?” Sharing her own experience, she said, “Balancing my work and family is what I love. I am happy when I am working. So when I am happy and I come home I think my children want to see a happy mother.”
When asked to share her experience of doing any challenging role in her career, she said, “For me I love acting. I come from a family that is passionate about films and art of filmmaking. For me I don’t look at the role as being difficult or challenging. I love being in front on the camera. So any role whether it is “Omkara” or “Chameli” or “Dev” or “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” or “Jab We Met,” even now my Netflix debut, which I did in “Jaane Jaan,” is just something that I love doing. For me I don’t look at any role as difficult or challenging. I just want to do it.”
When asked to share any dream role if she has any, which she wants to do, she said, “There is no dream role for me, my dream is to keep working and acting forever, I just want to keep acting in movies till I turn 60 or 70. I hope so. That is my dream. So I don’t have any dream role as such.”
Kareena made her Bollywood debut in 2000 in “Refugee.” When asked to share the changes Bollywood has gone through in the last two decades, she said, “Bollywood has grown from strength to strength. So many of our female actors have taken brave choices, made such brave decisions and because of that I think a lot of female-oriented stories are coming. I think today’s actresses have become much more open and brave. They want different things.”
That’s why people have started focusing on writing. Scriptwriters have started focusing on stories. So today it is about telling a good story, she added.
Kareena made her Netflix debut with “Jaane Jaan.” When asked what prompted her to join the OTT platform, she said, “One has to keep reinventing. Everybody is watching OTT shows these days. People started watching content-based movies and shows during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I thought of taking a plunge and this is how I am here. I am happy to have worked with wonderful actors. And Netflix has a reach all across the world and it has no language barriers also.”
OTT platforms allow filmmakers to have more freedom than cinema, feels the diva. When asked to share her method of picking a film, she said, “I look at the film in totality. I don’t look only at my role. The film has to have base and entertainment value,” said the “Omkara” actor. She added, “I like the dark space a lot, like I did in “Omkara” But people like me in comedy space more. “But I always like to explore. I like to push boundaries a little bit. To last in the business you always have to keep reinventing,” she concluded.
