The Six-Year itch
Karisma Kapoors return to the big screen isnt as surprising as her staying away from it for six years was.
Karisma Kapoor’s return to the big screen isn’t as surprising as her staying away from it for six years was. It was motherhood that kept her away,the actor confesses. “Once I had my kids — Samaira and Kian Raj — my priority was to be there for them at all times. I did not want to miss seeing them grow,” says the 37-year-old. Strangely enough,she did not miss doing movies. “From a young age,I had worked like a dog. When I moved away there was no void to fill,” says she.
Still,thanks to her family lineage and love for her art,Karisma couldn’t be away from the spotlight for long. It helped that director Vikram Bhatt was waiting in the wings with the script of Dangerous Ishk,tailor-made for her. “Vikram came to me several times and I kept saying,‘abhi nahin’. But this time,he said,‘Ab kar bhi do. Ab toh script lock bhi ho gaya hai’. It was then that I read the script,instantly liked it and decided to take up acting once again.
After all,acting is in my blood,” she adds.
Ever since the film’s promos have been on air,her children have been excited. “They have seen me in endorsements and judging shows,but this was totally new for them. I am happy that they finally got to see what their mother did before they were born,” she says excitedly.
At the age of 16,Kapoor a bushy eye-browed and puffy-haired teenager made her debute in Prem Qaidi (1991).
By the late ’90s she turned into a chic heroine,wooed by big banners. Raja Hindustani with Aamir Khan was a big hit and so was Dil To Pagal Hai with SRK. Still,at the peak of her career,she quit acting to marry Delhi-based businessman,the controversial and formerly married Sanjay Kapur. This was immediately after her much publicised engagement with Abishek Bachchan was abruptly called off. Although there is much ambiguity surrounding the status of her marriage now,she maintains a dignified silence about it.
Since I am returning to the screen after a sabbatical,I want people to see the Karisma Kapoor of 2012,” she says. Dangerous Ishk,which releases on May 11,is a reincarnation saga. Kapoor plays five different roles in it and speaks different dialects. While she is happy that actresses who are past their prime do have roles written for them,what took her by surprise was the way working mothers are accommodated into the movies now.
Today,this working mother is also a style icon. This wasn’t the case in her early films with OTT make-up and garish clothes. Remind her of that and she laughs,“That was the time when directors approached us to do films,saying ‘bahut achchi picture hai’ and then wrote the script on the sets. There were no stylists and we were pretty much left to fend for ourselves,” says the actor,who doesn’t regret the phase and considers it to be a learning experience.
The change in her personality and choice of films came when she “transformed from a girl into a woman”. “It was Raja Hindustani that changed my screen image. Dil Toh Pagal Hai brought fitness into vogue and it became cool for girls to wear sportswear. Now I love to dress up,” she says.
While her younger sister Kareena learnt the ropes of the industry from her,Karisma thanks her sister for getting her hooked to yoga. “I have always been very thin. That is just my body structure. After both my deliveries I had to lose almost 25 kilos and that’s when I took to healthy eating,walks and on Kareena’s insistence joined yoga. It has really helped me,” she says.
Now that Karisma has taken the second plunge,she wants to do more films. “I am reading some scripts right now. However,I will do a film only if the role excites me,” she says.
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