I've raised the bar for fashion: Kareena Kapoor

By the Subhash K Jha

Having been effectually designated a style icon Kareena now intends to go off on a long shopping binge in various fashion capitals.

"I have to. I've no choice. I'm looked at as a fashion statement. Very tiring, but flattering. Dress designer Aki Narula has set imposible standards of fashion for me through my films. Now I've no choice but to live up to those standards. I've raised the bar for fashion."

Then Kareena adds, "After Kambakkht Ishq in Qurbaan Aki has again made me look so special."

Very shortly Kareena will be off for along global shopping expedition. "It becomes tiring for everything I wear to be in the media glare. I constantly need to be well dressed. It's a price I've to pay, in more ways than one.

I don't have a choice but to have my wardrobe filled with choices. Nowadays when I go abroad I find myself spending more time in the shops than holidaying.It's a responsbiliy.

And I do need to be chic all the time. But my being a fashion icon also depends on my attitude and mood of the moment."

Are there two Akkis in Kareena's professional life now? Akshay and Aki Narula?

Has Kareena shifted loyalties from dress designer Manish Malhotra to Aki Narula?

"No. I love Aki's work and plan to use his clothes very often. But Manish and I go back a long way. He dressed up my sister to stardom and then me. We're not the kind of people who move on in our friendships. I'm back with Manish Malhotra in 3 Idiots and the remake of Stepmom.

I'll be dressed up as a stylish young girl. I'm planning to cut my hair. I'm really proud to be called stylish. I like that. The clothes and designer depend on the character and film.

In Jab We Met I was simply dressed in salwar kameez. In my forthcoming films Qurbaan and 3 Idiots I am minimalist in my clothes. But KI was about beautiful surfaces and shallow people. I had to dress immaculately.

The standards for a heroine's look and styling had to be raised. In terms of clothes, lopok hair and makeup we've done that in KI. The fact is, I wanted to look very different. I wanted to look larger than life."

Kareena gives the credit for her Kambhakkt look to her designer Aki Narula. "He went shopping for my clothes and accessories. This may be a masala film. But I've never worked harder.

In terms of styling and body language even dance and drama I really worked hard. I wanted it to be a phataka kind of role. I wanted the audience to come out breathless."

Kareena found it very hard to play the stuck up b…tch in KI. "I got to play someone very different in KI. Now when people see me in Qurbaan they'll be shocked again.

If I can carry off Kohapuri chappals in Omkara I am equally at home in Jimmy Choos in KI. I'm equally proud of both kind of films. Madhuri did a Mityudand and a Choli ke peeche side by side. Look at the films actors like Madhuri, my sister Karisma, Saif and Akshay did in the 1990s. And look where they got!I guess I was lucky."