Kareena Kapoor turns 40: From being depressed after Tashan’s failure to Saif Ali Khan’s mantra, 5 times she spoke her mind

Kareena Kapoor enters the fourth decade of life on Monday. The gorgeous actor is known for delivering some of the most memorable Bollywood characters such as Poo and Geet and also for her stunning selfies.

To some, it may seem like Kareena likes to play it safe in interviews, but such is not the case. From her relationship with husband Saif Ali Khan, to auditioning for the first time in her 20-year-long career, Kareena has often given interesting statements about her life. On her birthday, here are a few:

On Saif’s mantra that changed her

 

Speaking to BBC Asian Network, Kareena said that Saif had told her that he was offered Talaash. However, she was taken aback when Saif told her that he’d turned it down. “I think at that time Saif wanted to do a more commercial kind of movie,” Kareena said. “The best thing I’ve learned from Saif is being comfortable with myself and not always be running after money, success, fame. He’s taught me to love the greater things in life, that there’s something greater than money, fame and success, which I probably didn’t know — like family, love, calmness, peace of mind, or reading a book, or sitting and having a conversation not about work and competition,” she said.

On nepotism debate

In an interview with journalist Barkha Dutt, Kareena said that people are unable to understand the real issue when it comes to nepotism in Bollywood. “21 years of working would not have happened with just nepotism. It is not possible. I can take a long list out of superstars’ children for whom it’s not been able to happen that way,” she said, adding that the idea is to keep working hard and moving ahead.

“It might sound weird but my struggle is there. There is a struggle but it probably is not as interesting as somebody who comes in a train with just Rs 10 in his pocket. Yeah, it’s not been that and I can’t be apologetic about it,” she said.

On her break up with Shahid Kapoor

 

Kareena and Shahid dated for a couple of years and even worked in multiple films together. While their breakup made headlines 10 years ago, Kareena said it was Shahid who recommended her name to Imtiaz Ali for Jab We Met.

Speaking to Anupama Chopra, Kareena said, “In fact it was Shahid who actually said that I should hear this script of this film. He was like, ‘It’s amazing, the girl’s part is amazing and you should do it.’ He kind of actually got this entire project together and both of us ended up doing this film,” she said. Talking about the breakup she said, “Of course, then destiny had its own plan and life took its own course. A lot happened in the making of this film and Tashan and our lives… We all kind of went our separate ways. And this beauty of a movie came out of it.”

On dealing with Tashan’s failure

Kareena said she expected a lot from Tashan, her film with Saif Ali Khan, for which she had lost a lot of weight. She said she was disappointed when the film failed at the box office.

Kareena said that through this time, she connected a lot with her character of Geet in Jab We Met. “It was tough on me professionally and personally. Because if you got to see how her life took a turn in the second half of the film, a lot of my life took a turn as well during the making of the film,” she said in an interview to Film Companion. Kareena added that all her hope was still lying on Tashan and when the film failed, she was ‘depressed for six months’.

“When Tashan bombed and this film went on to become what it was, I was shattered. I was depressed for almost six months. I was like, I can’t believe this has happened,” she said. But she soon realised ‘this is the way it was meant to be.’

On auditioning for first time in 20 years

 

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Kareena said that the first time she had to audition in her career was last year for Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha. Talking to Rajeev Masand, Kareena said Aamir wanted to be sure about it. “Because knowing the way that he is, I think he wanted to be like 100% sure. So very randomly, out of the blue, I got a call from Aamir. ‘I want you to hear this film, this and that and I am very excited about it.’ So it just happened very organically. I heard the script like just then the minute he called me and he was just like let’s read some scenes. I want you to read some scenes. So I was like yeah, I have never done something like this. I thought like what the hell. I want to see myself if I want to do this or not and you know there is nothing wrong in that,” she said.

“But you know what, I think the times are changing and if I don’t evolve and I behave like I am some diva or this is beyond me…And Saif was the one who told me ‘What’s wrong with you? Even an Al Pacino would test for the part. There is nothing wrong, we all have to be sure as actors and artists,” she said.

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