'Heroine' to be Kareena's best : Madhur Bhandarkar

And now, National Award winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar has set his eyes on Kareena Kapoor and claims that his upcoming film 'Heroine' with the actress will be the best of her career.

After her career-defining film 'Jab We Met' with former boyfriend Shahid Kapoor, Kareena appeared in a string of not successful flicks like 'Tashan', (which only made news for her size-zero) and 'Roadside Romeo' (a forgetful animated film with present beau Saif Ali Khan).

'Golmaal Returns' was a saving grace for the actress which was followed by 'Kurbaan', a Rensil D'Silva directed film that won Kareena the applause of the critics.The film, however, could not pull the audiences to the theatre and the critics applause soon simmered as she gave a box office dud 'Main Aurr Mrs Khanna'.Kareena backed it with Raj Kumar Hirani's '3 Idiots' where she made her presence felt despite the small role in the Aamir Khan blockbuster.

But the actress is waiting for a solo hit and the 29-year-old, who began her career with J P Dutta's offbeat film 'Refugee' a decade back, has all the faith in Bhandarkar.
"Kareena has been wanting to work with me for quite a long time. But due to some reasons we have not been able to team up. She blindly trusts me and my talent and the feeling is mutual," Bhandarkar told PTI in an interview.

The film, which will start shooting in December, is already making a buzz with reports that Bhandarkar is planning to give Kareena the iconic looks of Hollywood's legendary actresses like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Vivien Leigh and Eva Gardner."This is going to be Kareena's best performance of her life. I can guarantee that. She is an talented artist and she will be in her full bloom in this one," Bhandarkar said.

The 41-year-old director, who studied film-making during his stint as a video cassette delivery boy, says that covering women issues has always been his priority and a trade mark of Bhandarkar's cinema.

"People in industry are afraid to raise these issues. They think that it would not generate any interest in the audience. But I am here to prove this notion wrong. All my films have had strong women characters and they have been liked by people," Bhandarkar said.
Talking of strong female characters, Bhandarkar proudly states that his heroines always thank him for giving such power packed roles.

"Every time Konkana meets me she mentions how people recognise her as 'Page 3' actress. Same is the case with Bipasha and Priyanka. It is nice to hear such things. I am equally proud to have worked with these actresses," Bhandarkar said.

But before he starts on another woman centric film, Bhandarkar is gung-ho about his debut comedy 'Dil to Bachcha hai ji', inspired by Gulzar's lyrics in the film 'Ishqiya'.
Working with a new and unusual star cast in Ajay Devgan, Emraan Haashmi and Omi Vaidya of '3 Idiots' fame, Bhandarkar says the film is his tribute to movie maverick Hrishikesh Mukherjee and ensures that the audiences is in for a surprise.

"Ajay is playing a husband, having constant 'Nok-Jhonk' with his wife, Emraan plays a carefree casanova while Omi's character is a surprise," the director said.The filmmaker is still on a lookout of heroines for his film and if everything goes as planned audiences would soon taste Bhandarkar's slice-of-life comedy in December this year.