FEMINISM ISN’T ABOUT MALE BASHING: KAREENA

The actor says she believes in equality of the sexes and that it takes two to tango

Riding high on the great response of her Friday release, Veere Di Wedding, is garnering, Kareena Kapoor Khan has once again proved why she’s one of the top actors in the Hindi film industry. Having made a comeback on the big screen since she became a mother in December 2016, Bebo is as excited about this career phase, as her fans. In a freewheeling chat, the actor clarifies about her recent ‘feminist’ remark, and talks about the kind of films she’s been a part of and scripts she would want to choose in future.

You called Veere Di Wedding (VDW) a progressive film. Has this term lost and found its meaning in Bollywood?

I feel Indian films were quite progressive back in the ‘60s and even in the ‘70s; we were quite out there making some interesting women-centric films. There was a lull in the ‘90s, I’d say. And now, we are back, again. Also, with films like Raazi (starring Alia Bhatt), which have done so well, I think people are ready for the kind of women-centric films that are fun, yet emotional.

Where do you see yourself fitting in this entire shift that Bollywood has undergone?

I’ve always been interested in doing women-centric films, be it Chameli, Dev or Jab We Met — they all had a strong female protagonist. For that matter, Omkara (2006) was so ‘male-centric’ because it had these big [male] stars [Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi], in the film, but I think the women [Kareena and Konkona Sen] too had a pivotal part to play in the storyline of the film. Despite having so much male presence, it was quite female-centric for its time and gave us similar importance. I’ll always pick and choose a film that is interesting for me.

You’ve played a girl getting married in VDW. Are you again trying to make any kind of a statement through this character? Not directly, but indirectly in the film we are trying to show how four friends just hang out in real life and how they react to things in the real world. That’s just the way how the film is and it’s not based on feminism. We are not trying to prove a point about women. Very subtly, it’ll come through what kind of issue girls today face. After becoming a mother, has anything changed in the kind of films being offered to you?

It’s more to do with your choice and what you pick up. So, I’ll try and do different parts as much as I can in each film, but at the same time, it’s balancing little bit of commercial success too because at the end of the day, I am a mainstream actress.

Has Saif (husband) ever had a say in what kind of films you should take?

He never questions me about what films I do. Only if I ask him, we [might] discuss but he’s too progressive a man to ever ask me what I am doing. In fact, he says it’s your choice. Your success and your failure should be yours and mine are mine and I think anyway, both our film’s tastes are completely different.

PHOTO: AMAL KS/HT Kareena Kapoor Khan