FILM INTERVIEW: KAREENA KAPOOR
Bebo Takes on Julia Roberts in Sony's Remake of 'Stepmom' for Bollywood
Bebo is back on the big screen in Karan Johar’s production of Siddharth Mahlotra’s We Are Family, which also stars Arjun Rampal and Kajol. In playing the lead role of a stepmother to another family’s children, Kareena Kapoor, who is currently filming for Ra.One and Agent Vinod, said there is little overlap between her personal life with Saif Ali Khan and the character she portrays in the Dharma Productions remake of Hollywood’s Stepmom.
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As Bollywood pundits and fans alike are aware, Kareena is romantically linked to Saif Ali, who himself has coming-of-age children from a previous relationship. While Bebo is a de facto stepmother in real life (Saif and Kareena are not married…yet), the younger sister of Karishma Kapoor told the press, in a recent promotional interview for We Are Family, that her fictional role as “the other mother” bears little to no resemblance to who she is outside the film.
“It’s a role that I am playing in professional capacity, and it is part of that world only,” she candidly told the press about the comparisons between her role in We Are Family and her personal life. “The role and its context has nothing to do with my personal life.”
Of course, there are certain basic similarities, Bebo finally confesses, but Kareena certainly hopes such common traits are merely superficial and generic. Most certainly, Kareena varies from Shreya (her character) in that the fictional stepmother in We Are Family is a 24-year-old career-oriented woman who moves into a home with a dying mother.
So what, exactly, does Bebo think she has in common with the fictional Shreya?
“Even Shreya doesn’t know anything about motherhood and stuff. She is a 24-25-year-old career-oriented woman who gets caught in unfortunate circumstances where she has to live with this dying other woman – Kajol’s character, Maya — because of the man she loves. It’s her journey from a career-oriented girl to being a mother. It’s a role that I would have loved to portray in my style, and I have done that.”
The transition from career girl to motherhood is probably the next big challenge for Bebo, who anticipates marrying her main squeeze, Saif Ali, in the not-too-distant future, but Kareena appreciated Shreya mostly because of how difficult it was for the actress to portray the bubbly character. In fact, she thinks it is one of the toughest roles she has ever had to play in her nearly decade-long career.
“It’s a special role for me. In fact, it would be so for any actor today. If I may say that, it’s the toughest role in the movie,” she confessed to the press. “There are a lot of feelings involved between her and Maya, her and Arjun, and her and the children. It is a tough role for me.”
As special as the role is to her, and as important the lessons may be of balancing career and family, Kareena is ultimately quite happy with where her life is right now.
“I have chosen this career and this life. My career is of utmost importance to me at the moment, and I want to achieve much. It is clearly something I want to do, and my family completely understands that and supports me,” she candidly confessed to the press. “My mother recently came to London, where I was shooting for Ra.One, and I tried to spend time with her there. I also try to spend time with my sister and her children, but there’s just so much time I have. So it’s difficult at times.”
As difficult as her hectic schedule and professional life may be (she is currently filming for Agent Vinod and Ra.One right now, both productions featuring frequent international travel), Kareena still is 100 percent passionate about what she does for a living.
“I love it, so I do it. It’s my goal,” she emphatically stated to the press. “I won’t sell my soul, but I’ll sell my talent. Actors are like scientists — we must experiment to succeed. Otherwise we will become stagnant. I do want to do different kinds of roles.”
Tying her personal philosophy on her professional development, Kareena thinks her portrayal of Shreya is a class act and representative of the types of characters any great actress would want to play.
“My character, Shreya, is very complex and complicated. She is contemporary, forward-looking, and is awkward with children,” she told the press. “The film can be described as a journey between two women who start out by hating each other but come closer understanding and supporting each other due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Such understanding, Kareena hopes, will resonate well with audiences this weekend as they watch the heartfelt drama that is We Are Family.
Jointly produced by UTV Motion Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Dharma Productions, We Are Family opens in theaters around the world on September 3rd.
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