The actress steers clear of trends and asserts that she doesn’t want to do biopics just because everybody else is doing it
Biopics seems to have become one of B-Town’s fav genres. Every actor has a wishlist of which living/late celebrity they would like to play on the big screen. Kareena Kapoor Khan admits, “I have been offered biopics, but I don’t think that just because there is a trend of biopics, one should get caught in the frenzy and do one. Actors tend to do that. If a comedy film chal gayi, everybody will make comedy films, action works, then there are a string of action films and biopic ek chali, so everybody will want to make a biopic. I don’t want to just do it for the sake of it.”
She admits she has been offered more than her share of biopics, “There have been so many. One was based on a IAS officer. Somebody wanted to make a film on Kiran Bedi, that was also offered to me.”
However, she is not inclined to do a film on someone’s life, “I don’t see myself doing a biopic. I don’t know. If I did, what interests me is a film like The Bridges Of Madison County. When I am going to be that age, I want to do a film like that, that’s more me.”
Her contemporaries have had great success with biopics, but that doesn’t bother Kareena, “It’s an exciting profession. Every actor does what works for them, what suits them. Like I think Priyanka was apt for Mary Kom. I don’t see any other actor, any one of us doing that role the way she did it. So there are certain things. Like Jab We Met was meant for me, so there are certain roles that an actor can do, like there was Omkara or Chameli. So there are certain parts, so we should cash on our USPs. I know what mine is, and do films based on that,” she says.
My mother-in-law is the eternal begum
The title of a Begum isn’t delivered on a platter and one has to earn it. Lineage, style, charisma besides an array of accomplishments go into earning this royal title. Sharmila Tagore has always been everyone’s beloved begum over the years — on-screen and off it. Then, along came the Choti Begum Kareena Kapoor Khan. Both Begums have essayed sari-clad characters and dazzling glamorous divas on screen. Both ooze unmatched class. While Sharmila had a career spanning many major significant films and juggling her film career with family responsibilities as a wife and mother effortlessly, her daughter-in-law Kareena Kapoor Khan is no less. Bebo has pedigree, a great family history in films and a litany of achievements like her mother-in-law. It’s like she was born to fit into the shoes of a Begum.
No film together
So it’s rather shocking that no filmmaker has never thought of casting them together in a film. One can easily vouch that the two talented screen goddess will add their own allure to a great script if it comes their way. Kareena’s been active in films even after her marriage to the Nawab of Pataudi Saif Ali Khan and is now mother to Saif’s children from his first marriage. Sharmila, too, continued to work in an array of award-winning films despite settling into a married life with the late Nawab of Pataudi, Mansur Ali Khan.
Meaning of the ‘Begum’ title
When asked what does the title meant to Kareena says, “For me, my mother-in-law will always be the eternal begum, a career-oriented woman who started a family, who ran the house, looked after three children but yet worked in the biggest commercial successes as well as some great serious cinema. She kind of always tried to balance everything. To me she still is and still looks super gorgeous. Right from the beginning till now, I can’t take my eyes off her. I look up to her in every way, so for me she will always be that.”
Sharing space on-screen with mom-in-law
One’s wont to ask if Bebo would like to share screen with her mother-in-law. Pat comes the reply, “I would love to.” Bebo and Sharmila have a certain royal elegance which can be easily translated on-screen and also the warmth and camaraderie they reflect can work wonders on screen. It’s rather shocking that even after so many years both of them being in the industry, nobody has done that. When asked about her mother-in-law, Bebo says, “She is so amazing, she is always like ‘Work, you should work’ and whenever I wear a dress, she is like ‘You look amazing in a dress.’ She is so, a woman of today. She is like a super woman.” Someone put these two in a film already!