Kareena Kapoor Khan opens up about motherhood, the importance of kindness and sensitivity in boys, and why Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra pushed her to explore a deeply emotional side of acting. The actor also discusses playing a “pretty cop” who embraces her femininity rather than conforming to conventional ideas of how a police officer should look or behave.
I have always loved Prithvi since Aiyaa. He was wonderful in that film. I know he’s a good dancer too.
I think like… Prithvi said that it’s the responsibility of the boy or man as well, and I’m a mother of two sons and, of course, I’m terrified. Because as a mother, you kind of want to do your best. You want to protect them. You want to also show them a side that they are responsible. So the only thing I keep praying for is kindness. Men should be more kind. Boys should be more kind.
It’s a common assumption that girls are more sensitive. But that’s not true. I think there are men and boys who today have no fear of being sensitive, of crying in front of a girl or crying in front of their mother. I always tell my son if he wants to cry, you should if that’s what you feel, because he has to experience that and he has to know.
So it’s very terrifying and there were some scenes in this film that would just automatically choke you. There is a scene which I have done with my fellow character, which is my favorite scene in the film, which I don’t know Meghna is not going to allow me to say anything more. But it just it just talks about that it’s always a girl’s fault.
And if you see that scene and the way Meghna has written it and what the dialogues and the way she has communicated that, I don’t think I needed any glycerin or anything. I just remember the lines and that’s my favorite scene and I was just naturally kind of very disturbed and choked.
So, I’m happy I got to at least perform that, because that is something challenging. As an actor, I also enjoyed doing the fun and the games and all of that. But this is something that I just love doing.
Did you challenge yourself or tried breaking limits during this film?
I’ve always said that acting is in my blood. I don’t know anything else than acting. And it’s not because I come from a film family. I think I’m a bit different from the family as I’m totally involved in acting only. The rest of our family is into production, direction as well. All my uncles and aunts are doing different things. But I feel I don’t have any limits to my acting.
Do certain intense and personal scenes stay with you when you go back home?
Definitely. I just feel like the part like Jaane Jaan, and what Meghna has written in Daayra, has given me more darshan in my life. I feel that. As a mother, as an actor, I just feel like a part written by her, and I’ve had this opportunity to play it, it has stayed with me. I feel ever since I’ve become a mother, I’ve also become a better actor, I don’t know why.
I think this film is apart from it being a responsible and a different kind of film, it’s about two people who have different kind of ways of thinking, different ideologies. I think what it’s tried to bring about is she’s just more sure as a cop and she knows what she’s doing and particularly when it comes to this situation that they’re handling in the film.
So, I wouldn’t say Talaash definitely. I think Rosie was a very different kind of a character. She was more seductive. And this is a completely different world that Meghna has put me in. We’ve tried to keep the essence of just the fact that she’s not that typical kind of butch cop. She’s a pretty cop, also. Yeah, a cop who wears lipstick.
It doesn’t have to be that if you’re a cop you have to be a particular way. Keep the feminine side too, because we as women have to own who we are and we’re proud of being who we are, too. So, whether you’re a cop or not, whether you’re wearing trousers doesn’t mean that you have to become a man.