Kareena Kapoor Khan on whether her mother ‘groomed’ her to become a star after ‘moving on’ from Kapoor family: ‘We had a very basic childhood’

Reflecting on her parents’ separation and its impact on her childhood, Kareena highlighted her mother’s resilience. She recounted, “Then, of course, my mom moved on and we were shown a childhood that was very basic. My mom would drop us to school bus. My mom still today has no idea of the paparazzi culture. She always told us to work and work means to star in films and not the other things. For them it is all about acting and making a good film.”

She added, “My mom is very self made and she is very strong. She was known as the iron lady because she was very strong about how her children are and she always advocated for the women in the family to work. She always asserted for the right thing.”

When Kareena was asked if her mother ‘was grooming her to become Kareena Kapoor?’ she said, “My mom was very strongly involved in my sister’s career because Karisma also started when she was just 14 and it was a different time, and she was one of the first in the family who actually was working. At that time, people used to say that light-eyed girls never make it in Bollywood and my mom was like ‘No.’ My mom had a huge hand in that. That also paved the way for me.”

Sharing how she learned all crucial lessons from closely observing Karisma’s career, she said, “I was constantly watching. I think I have lived two careers. Even before things happen, I know how are things going to pan out. I have seen so much. My sister started shooting at the age of 15, I am six years younger to her, so I was there when she gave her first shot. I was Taimur’s age at that time. I have seen her journey. So I am lucky to have that guidance. I watched from the wings.”

Kareena also reflected on the sacrifices she made to pursue her acting ambitions, admitting that she missed out on typical teenage experiences. She said, “I started shooting for Refugee at the age of 18, but the film released when I was 20. I wasn’t doing regular things at 20 like college, parties or sleepovers. I think I paid this price for becoming an actor. But I had that ambition that this is more important to become an actor and for that I have to sacrifice a lot. Now, I take out time to chill with my friends. From the age of 18 to 30, we didn’t even know what does it mean to party. Our parties were like you are chilling with your crew on the set. We grew up on the set.”