164
word about causes is nice but talking
about my personal charity is some-
thing I don’t like to do. But of course, I
am a celebrity advocate for UNICEF
and we’ve worked closely over the last
four years for the education of the girl
child in India. That is something I’m
passionate about because education is
something I believe in completely,”
says Kareena. A wistful look wafts
across her face when she says, “I
couldn’t complete my education. I kind
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sensitive part of my life and I always
regret I never got to go to college.”
A bottle of still water, our choice of
libation for the evening, arrives and is
ceremoniously poured into our glasses
by a solicitous waiter. Still skirting
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about her foray into fashion. She had
launched her own clothing line with
the retailer Globus but chose not tocontinue with it when her contract
with them ended. That was “eons
ago,” as Kareena says. She has had of-
fers to launch another one but isn’t so
keen on it right now “as it is a 24-hour
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scripts, there’s something else that’s
keeping Kareena occupied these
days—a wellness blog in association
with nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar, au-
thor of books like Don’t Lose Your
Mind, Lose Your Weight. “We are
thinking about a blog that addresses
women and their problems in terms of
food and exercise, pregnancy, meno-
pause... so many different topics. We
have been talking about launching a
portal where we will be addressing
women’s issues. There are a lot of ex-
citing things I would love to do with
Rujuta, because we work so amazingly
well together,” says Kareena.PAUSE AND REWIND
Inevitably, I must now return to my
core competency and that of Karee-
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ka Chopra made quite a splash in the
Western world as the lead in television
show Quantico (2015), while Deepika
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Cage. Kareena harbours no such ambi-
tions. “My priorities are very differ-
ent,” she says. “I think it’s amazing
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think I could ever do something like
that. I want to be a married working
woman. My responsibilities are a lot
more different than hers. I have a hus-
band, I would like to start a family. I
can’t give up everything and move to
LA. That’s not me. The kind of work
that these girls have put in, you need
to have that kind of dedication of want-
ing to achieve so much and do it so
wonderfully. Also, maybe I’m lazy. I
don’t want to conquer the world but I
don’t mind having a little place of my
own. It’s as simple as that.”
As she speaks, I realise just how lev-
el-headed she seems. This evidently
stems from the fact that she is relaxed
and, along with husband and frequentco-star Saif Ali Khan, is on her annual
two-month vacation in London. The
city is home for Saif, as he grew up
here and attended Winchester College.
“In London we have a lot of friends
and family, and most of Saif’s friends
are here. I keep telling him, ‘You have
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school friends. Also, the fact that you
can be a star and cut away from that
world and come here and spend time
with people who have no idea of Bolly-
wood, we both enjoy that a lot. It’s nice
to pull out for a while,” says Kareena.
“In Mumbai I can’t walk the streets
and I can’t enjoy the park. I like doing
these things... I love doing a picnic
when the sun is out and it’s great to
take a book or a script and read, meet
friends and just be able to get out of
your four-by-four matchbox apart-
ment, because Mumbai is a concrete
jungle—there’s absolutely no green-
ery, it’s polluted and it kind of gets to
you. And both Saif and I are the kind of
people who don’t like to get involved in
Bollywood cliques,” she says. I remark
that it must be refreshing to be with
people who treat them as human be-
ings and not as stars. “Absolutely,”
says Kareena, “I think actors some-times forget that they are human
beings too. Myself included. You either
become robots or you’re so accustomed
to everybody praising you or being in
awe of you that you almost forget what
you are.”
When in London, Kareena also loves
going to the movies with friends, par-
ticularly leaning towards European
art-house cinema. She has recently
seen British master Stephen Frears’s
Florence Foster Jenkins at the Curzon
Mayfair and can’t stop raving about
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dustry. This naturally leads me to en-
quire about where Kareena sees her-
self a decade down the line. “Oh god!”
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er interview, making some sense,
working all my life. A lot of people told
me, ‘Don’t get married, because it is
taboo in India for an actress. They gen-
erally don’t get work.’ And I said, be-ing in love and being married, I proba-
bly cannot imprison myself and I am
going to continue to work with the sup-
port of my husband. Sure enough, I did
work and I am working. I will continue
to follow my dreams and do what I
want, because in Bollywood I think
you are as old as you look. I think we’re
in the habit of aping the West a lot.
And the West has amazing actors who
are married and with children. It’s
never stopped them. I think we’re
getting there.”
We are well over our allotted time,
but Kareena is happy to chat some
more as the friends she is meeting
haven’t yet arrived. I excuse myself,
explaining that I have to go home and
cook dinner for my wife. She is delight-
ed. “Who does that?... It’s just like Ki
& Ka!” She is referring to her 2016 R
Balki-directed release where tradition-
al gender roles are reversed.
I step out into the gloaming. The
rain has ceased. I merge into the
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leaving an incandescent star behind. Q
Naman Ramachandran is the author
of Lights, Camera, Masala: Making
Movies In Mumbai (2006) and Rajini-
NDQWK 7KH'HÀQLWLYH%LRJUDSK\ (2012)“It’s amazing what Priyanka has done. But I don’t think I could ever do something
like that. I want to be a married working woman. My responsibilities are different”