Pretty woman. Review on Kareena Kapoor

Once upon a time, there was a pretty little girl called Kareenawho lived in a palatial home with her parents and sister. Since she had been born, she was fed on a diet of ‘We are the Kapoors. We rule Bollywood.’

Li’l Kareena believed this. She also believed that she will be a queen one dayand the common people will bow and scrape before her. She was made to understand that she will have to be a Bollywood heroine for this to happen. Li’l Kareena felt that it was easy to be a Bollywood heroine - just pout and grin, toss your hair and dance. And you are good enough to rule the roost. The stage was set.

Kareena grew up into a beautiful, bubbly young woman and entered Bollywood. Behind her back were her ‘well wishers’, two women who she trusted most, her sister, a has been actress and a mother, another long-long time has been actress. Both had had mediocre innings but Kareena was slated to reach heights, or so she believed.

Kareena was received with much fanfare, much to her glee. No wonder this. She was very pretty, vivacious, effervescent and looked every inch of a rebel that she was. She was an original and spoke her mind. She looked innocent and childishly self centered. She became a sort of an icon with the young girls who needed a Madonna like role model. Kareena had it in her to make it big, because she was a natural in front of the camera, totally uninhibited with not a hint of self-consciousness.

And so began her career….

…..which plummeted like a ton of bricks

What went wrong ?

Choice of movies

Kareena chose movies according to the banners and film-makers rather than the content and her role. So she ended up being a part of sorry sagas like Yaadein, Khushi, Mujhse Dosti Karoge, Refugee, Fida… the list goes on. It appears that working with the heavyweight names of Bollywood ,was more important than doing good work in sensible movies. And what a price she had to play for being a hare and not a tortoise !

Getting typecast.

Kareena suddenly lost her identity after ‘Kabhi khushi kabhi gham’ and became Poo, a hip swinging, pouting bimbo. So strong was that characterization that all her future directors wanted her to enact ‘Poo’ for all her movies and she went along with the tide, not seeing the trap that waited for her in the waves. All the good roles that demanded any serious acting were lapped by the Preitys and Ranis while ‘Poo’ stood in the sidelines, ignored.

Kapoor Family

‘I belong to the renowed Kapoor family’shouted Kareena from the rooftops. She was still saying this when her movies flopped, one by one. She was still saying this when embarrassing photographs of her kissing her boyfriend were splashed everywhere. Doesn’t she realize that no one cares which family you belong to ? In the end, it’s you, alone, against this whole wide world. Either you are good or you are not. If you are good, you stay and if you are not, you are out.

So it’s upto Ms. Poo, sorry…. Ms. Kareena to prove her mettle.

And one does feel encouraged by her performance in Aitraaz that better times are waiting for her. About the kissing scandal, well, she should put this behind her. Public memory is very short. Any scandal is hot only till the next scandal breaks out.