The Diva
My first experience with Kareena Kapoor was reading her bio at Bollywhat.com, and I decided then that I wasn't impressed. She seemed to be everything I hated--full of herself and not very talented, quicker to gossip than perform. It wasn't like she earned her way to Bollywood stardom--she is the grand daughter of iconic yesteryear actor Raj Kapoor and sister of actress Karishma Kapoor. But in that she's really not unlike any other actor in Bollywood either. I also probably didn't like her because other fans didn't like her. What I've learned about Kareena Kapoor, is that people usually love her or hate her. Rarely do you find someone indifferent to her, and that's probably just how she'd like it. And after my first Kareena experience on film, I decided I loved her.
No, Kareena isn't the most talented actress or dancer in Bollywood and many people tire of her "Poo" roles (Poo is short for Pooja, a proper girl's name and an unofficial type of character in Bollywood who's glamorous and a bit of an airhead), but she is effective every time she's on screen. And it always looks like she's having a good time, which is a lot of the charm of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.
Of course, it was her appearance on Koffee with Karan that completely won me over. Karan Johar (show host and successful filmmaker) kept trying to get Kareena to say something against X actress or Y actor, and she refused to go there with Karan. She was poised, eloquent, professional, playfully humble, and completely charming. Even Karan and Rani Mukherjee, the latter whom was also a guest on the show, were surprised and impressed. She was nothing I expected her to be.
Nowadays, Kareena is dating another Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor. She's kept a relatively low profile but is working hard. She's been involved in mega hits and embarrassing flops, but she remains an important player in the world of Bollywood. I'll let you judge her.
My favorite Kareena films*:
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)--with Hritik Roshan, SRK, Kajol, the Bachchans
Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002)--with Hrithik Roshan and Rani Mukherjee
Yuva (2004)--with Vivek Oberoi
Hulchul (2004)--with Akshaye Khanna
*I haven't seen Asoka (with SRK), but I've heard it's an impressive, non Poo-ish performance.
Next up: Ajay Devgan
posted by Angie @ 7:25 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Yay K3G!
I'm so glad you like MDK. I love that movie so very much and it seems often to get a bad rap for reasons I don't understand at all. I both love and hate Kareena, depending on the movie. Generally, when she's hyper, I want to tie her to a tree until she promises to chill out. But when she's dramatic or chill, like in Asoka or Hulchul, she's quite effective, I think. And somehow in Khushi and MDK, even though she's pretty insane, I liked her. Maybe that's my favorite of the Poo roles. Where I really, really don't like her is MPKDH and K3G, but I suspect for reasons that are largely not her fault, as those characters would be grating no matter who did them. I've got to admit that when I like Kareena, I really like her, which is a lot more than I can say for Karisma, whom I find predictably "enh" - neither distractingly bad nor truly enjoyable - in everything I've seen (which is not many, to be fair).
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