Kareena Kapoor Khan: End of a decade-long wait

She has been relevant for a long 23 years — and counting. Kareena Kapoor Khan has been a potent commercial force ever since she first showed her star-pedigree, X factor, and complete package persona even in her debut flop, ‘Refugee’. 

Standout performances in films and roles of multiple genres followed, along with massive blockbusters like ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’, ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Golmaal 3’, and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and rock-solid performances in other movies like ‘Chameli’, ‘Heroine’ and ‘Ki & Ka’. Since the lockdown, Kareena has steered clear of OTT releases, and has been seen only in ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. But now, she plays the title-role in Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘Jaane Jaan’, releasing on Netflix on September 21.

In a quick meeting, the gorgeous actor disarmingly begins by saying that ‘Jaane Jaan’ was the happy ending to a decade-long wait to work with Sujoy Ghosh, that “wonderful, lovely, fantastic director!”

Says the actress, “Sujoy has been wanting to make this film for the last 10 years, but for his own reasons, he had put it on the backburner. And I wanted to work with him for the same period! We had discussed some other projects as well! But I wanted to do a proper thriller with him in the Kahani-Badla space, and this seemed the perfect opportunity.”

Ask Sujoy’s USP as director, and Kareena replies, “He really pushes the actor to do something different. He emotionally drains them to bring out a side that is slightly more intense. ‘Jaane Jaan’ is a story of a mother and child and is nicely and darkly done. He is very clear, prepared, wants his actors on sets to be thorough too, but gives them space. He is not someone who wants an actor to copy him, or do exactly what he wants. But he is a demanding director for sure!”

Kareena looks at the film’s OTT release as something that makes it wee bit more challenging. “I had received some other offers earlier on OTT, but did not find those scripts worthy enough. OTT, after all, is something that is watched closely at home, so it has to be fabulous in content and script and needs great acting. It is very much an actor’s medium.”

Her father Randhir Kapoor also did a 1983 film with the same title. She nods, smiles, and replies, “Yes! They loved this title, which applies well to the story.”

Kareena has always had a weakness for thrillers even as an audience. Will we see her turning producer with a mystery film? “Yes. I am co-producing ‘The Buckingham Murders’. It is completely in English and will premiere on October 14 at the BFI London Film Festival. Hansal Mehta is my director and I play a mother and a detective.” 

Having done the home productions of all the Khans (including her husband Saif Ali Khan), Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, she quips, “I will always do the big films, for which my fans love me, to the point of imitating my dances, clothes, and dialogues, but I have this side to me that looks at different kinds of roles also. My roles in ‘Chameli’ or ‘Talaash’ will be remembered forever!”

A mother in both ‘Jaane Jaan’ and ‘The Buckingham Murders’ and in a few films earlier — where do the real-life mom and reel-life parent meet? “Maybe subconsciously, these factors may come into play,” she replies. “But I don’t connect my personal life to my work — they are so different.”

How was the experience of working with Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat, her leading men in these projects? “I have watched their work a lot and I knew how good both are,” she says. “They were well prepared and came from a different school of acting and improvising. I had to be on my toes, but even then, during a shot, they would positively surprise me so much that I would just gape at what they had done and needed a retake!”

Concludes Kareena, “Today, scripts are getting better, and an actor has to expand the areas of work and has to prove himself or herself constantly. Everyone is doing so much good work, whatever the platform.”

And, as we know, Kareena has to remain relevant.