PremiumHappy Birthday Kareena Kapoor: 6 films on contemporary India celebrating the act and the actress
Hia Datta
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Spontaneous, instinctual with a ring of emotional range and depth is how film critics have marked Kareena Kapoor’s acting method to date, in different determiners which come down to the same meaning more or less. The actress who made her debut in 2000 with J.P. Dutta’s Refugee co-starring Abhishek Bachchan has always worn her heart on her sleeves in her onscreen performances and her offscreen self. Candour is as if second nature to the Jab We Met actress, which is how she has famously conducted herself with the media too, and the same can be surely said of her approach to her acts. The six-time Filmfare Award-winning actor secured both commercial success and critical acclaim and broke stereotypes in her ways, from asking for pay parity back in 2003 for Kal Ho Naa Ho to walking the ramp in the Lakme Fashion Week in 2016 as a mom-to-be and more. The ‘Main Apni Favourite Hoon’ girl continues to be a fan-favourite.
Kareena Kapoor turns 41 today, and we list six films from her repertoire that engage with relevant contexts of contemporary India, and which offer compelling performances by the seasoned star and actress.
1
Refugee
Kareena Kapoor made her big debut as an actor on the silver screen with this J.P. Dutta directorial, alongside Abhishek Bachchan, who made his debut too in the romantic drama. Abhishek plays the titular Refugee, an anonymous Indian Muslim of unknown origin who helps refugees from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan cross borders at the Rann of Kutch. Set in the post-partition of India, the film grapples with the conflicts and complications of the refugee crisis in India. Kareena plays Nazneen M. Ahmed or Naaz, a Bangladeshi refugee in Pakistan who falls in love with the Refugee while being led across the border with her family. Kareena outshined Abhishek in her maiden act of a girl in love. The effortless ease which is so characteristic of her acting style pervades her performance, from the songs to the beats of love, pathos, sorrow, and more. As a debutant actor, she depicted the rushes of Naaz with impressive grace.
2
Chameli
Sudhir Mishra's tale of a chance one-night encounter between an urbane investment banker and a sex worker gave Kareena Kapoor her first claim to acting mettle. Aman Kapoor, the genteel investment banker played by Rahul Bose is approached by Chameli in a deserted alleyway on one rainy night in Mumbai after his car breaks down. As the alluring, affable sex worker Chameli, she is a bundle of contradictions and Kareena portrays the nuances with conviction. If she’s street-smart, crude, and crass on her tongue, she is also soft and gentle at heart, hoping for happiness and love. Kareena got the body language, posture, colloquial speech, and diction quite well. Her opening and closing scenes where she lights a cigarette as a chain smoker perhaps were down pat. And, she imbued a dignity to the character of Chameli beyond her social calling and above the hypocrisy and prejudiced perception of society about sex workers. Kareena won the Filmfare Special Jury Award for the film.
3
Dev
Kareena Kapoor plays a young Muslim girl and student Aaliya in this thought-provoking film by Govind Nihalani that stars Amitabh Bachchan as the titular JCP Dev Pratap Singh. The year saw her arrive as an actress by deconstructing the onscreen pretty glam doll image and moving towards meaningful cinema. Political powerplay, communal riots, and violence find a telling depiction in the film. Despite a rather short screen space, donning a no make-up look and no starry bearings, Kareena etches out the ache and pining for Farhan (Fardeen). Her quiet conviction in being on the side of truth and righteousness to displaying real strength and courage in becoming the voice of truth is impeccable. There’s natural ease in her performance that gets the beats of Aaliya very well. Kareena stood out in a film that boasted of stalwarts like Bachchan and Puri and won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.
4
Omkara
Helmed by the masterly Vishal Bharadwaj, Kareena Kapoor plays Dolly Mishra or Desdemona to Ajay Devgn’s Omkara or Othello in this admirable adaptation of the bard’s classic tragedy Othello. Kareena as Dolly Mishra delivers an emotionally intelligent performance. She is perceived to be dubious and beguiling by most around her, even her father, but she knows her mind and heart and reverses the trope of the man taking the first step of declaration of love, by making the first move of declaring her love for Omkara, the titular goon of the narrative. Kareena is nicely understated in her portrayal in tune with her character, but delightfully intense in key scenes, especially in the climax. Fans of the actress count this one as one of the better performances in her repertoire.
5
Talaash
Reema Kagti’s psychological crime drama featured a cool cast with Aamir Khan as Inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat, Rani Mukherji as his wife Roshni and Kareena Kapoor as Rosie, a sex worker, Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Temur Langda and Rajkumar Rao as Suran Singh’s junior Devrath Kulkarni. Surjan Singh is put in charge of the murder case of a high-profile celebrity, while also inwardly suffering from an irreparable and unreconciled personal tragedy. Along comes Rosie, an enigmatic and tantalising sex worker who agrees to help him on the case. But there is more to Rosie than meets the eye and Kareena just does that with her role. She looks lovely as Rosie but more importantly gets going from the get-go. Although arguably Rani Mukherji stands out of the lead trio, Kareena holds her own too, bringing a more mature and perceptive portrayal in Rosie than what she evinced in Chameli.
6
Udta Punjab
Abhishek Chaubey took on the worrying menace of substance use and addiction in Punjab in this searing black crime comedy. Shahid Kapoor as Tommy, the rockstar, and Alia Bhatt as the migrant labourer gets the meatier parts and showcase their career-best performances. And, while Kareena Kapoor does not get as much screen time as Shahid or Alia, but as the sober (pun intended) Dr Preet Sahni who runs a drug rehab and treats druggies, she puts up the positive, moral and redemptive core of the narrative, and plays the part with precision. She brings quiet power and endows an endearing quality to Preet’s persona that instantly makes you root for her.
