"I want to be a married working woman. I would like to start a family"
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 around discussing films, I ask her about her foray into fashion. She had launched her own clothing line with the retailer Globus but chose not to continue with it when her contract with them ended. That was "eons ago," as Kareena says. She has had offers to launch another one but isn't so keen on it right now "as it is a 24-hour kind of job." Besides reading film scripts, there's something else that's keeping Kareena occupied these days"a wellness blog in association with nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar, author 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, menopause... 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 exciting 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 Kareena"films. Her contemporary Priyanka Chopra made quite a splash in the Western world as the lead in television show Quantico(2015), while Deepika Padukone is one of the stars of 2017 release xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage. Kareena harbours no such ambitions. "My priorities are very different," she says. "I think 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 a lot more different than hers. I have a husband, 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 wanting 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 level-headed she seems. This evidently stems from the fact that she is relaxed and, along with husband and frequent co-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 no friends in India.' He's so close to his 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 Bollywood, 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 apartment, because Mumbai is a concrete jungle"there's absolutely no greenery, 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 beings and not as stars. "Absolutely," says Kareena, "I think actors sometimes 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."
Anupamaa
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