From playing arrogant airheads to multi-faceted women of substance, actress Kareena Kapoor is attempting to ford the abyss that separates a pin-up from a performer. A street filled with ordinary sights – the grocer, the paanwallah , people bustling past, a watermelon cart… She runs blindly, her face raw with panic, untouched by make-up, poetry in motion. Govind Nihalani, hard taskmaster that he is, peers into the lens and nods imperceptibly. Dev is in the making, mixing serrated visual with hard-hitting statement; also marking the younger Kapoor girl's debut in parallel cinema.
If the moment and the meaning lie in the choices one makes, Kareena is making hers. And Dev is not the only one, Chameli pummels and pushes the impossibly glam 'Poo' into a half-lit figure, joyous and melancholy in parts. In Kareena's own words , 'an innocent prostitute whose very face reflects purity of soul'
She tells you confidingly, "I've taken a big risk with Chameli , and I'm having sleepless nights over it; but really, no regrets! It's a short, sweet, sensitive film. My fans can't let me down – they have to go in droves to see this one. Sudhir Mishra is marvellous!" Time is the critical factor, given the fact that Kareena is booked up for 'eternity'! She adds with grim humour, "You know, considering that I've delivered just one hit in my entire career ( Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai ), it's amazing how the country's most respected filmmakers still want me in their films!" Equilibrium is the word, as the girl-woman strives to balance the board with projects like Dev with Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan, Chameli opposite Rahul Bose, Mani Rathnam's Yuva , Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani , Dharmesh Darshan's Bewafa , Rituparno Ghosh's next opus, JP Dutta's L.O.C , Abbas-Mustan's Aitraaz and Ken Ghosh's film co-starring Shahid Kapur. Undoubtedly, this is the new phase in Kareena's life, merging the offbeat with the mainstream.
However the last year wasn't as kind to Kareena, who found the media suddenly assuming monstrous proportions. "They pulled me down every which way they could, they wrote about me, wrote me off, slighted me, misunderstood me… I had to shout from the rooftops that the characters I played on screen were arrogant, but that wasn't me. Every flop of mine was held up in ghoulish delight. For heaven's sake, I have a right to make bad films, to make mistakes!" she exclaims.