Born on 21 September 1980 in Bombay (now Mumbai), Kareena Kapoor (often informally referred to as 'Bebo') is the younger daughter of Randhir Kapoor and Babita (née Shivdasani); her elder sister Karisma is also an actress. She is the paternal granddaughter of actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, maternal granddaughter of actor Hari Shivdasani, and niece of actor Rishi Kapoor.
Describing herself as a "very naughty [and] spoilt child", Kapoor's exposure to films from a young age kindled her interest in acting; she was particularly inspired by the work of actresses Nargis and Meena Kumari. Despite her family background, her father disapproved of women entering films because he believed it conflicted with the traditional maternal duties and responsibility of women in the family. This led to a conflict between her parents, and they separated. She was then raised by her mother, who worked several jobs to support her daughters until Karisma debuted as an actress in 1991. After living separately for several years, her parents reconciled in October 2007.
Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls' School in Dehradun. She attended the institution primarily to satisfy her mother, though later admitted to liking the experience. According to Kapoor, she wasn't inclined towards academics though received good grades in all her classes except mathematics. After graduating from Welham she studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College in Vile Parle (Mumbai). Kapoor then registered for a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard Summer School in the United States. She later developed an interest in law, and enrolled at the Government Law College, Mumbai; during this period, she developed a long-lasting passion for reading. However, after completing her first year, Kapoor decided to pursue her interest to become an actress. She began training at an acting institute in Mumbai mentored by Kishore Namit Kapoor, a member of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
While training at the institute, Kapoor was cast as the female lead in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) opposite his son, Hrithik Roshan. Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project; Kapoor later explained that she had benefited by not doing the film since more prominence was given to the director's son. She debuted later that year alongside Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta's war drama Refugee. Set during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the film centers on a man who illegally transports civilians back and forth across the border. Kapoor portrayed Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with Bachchan's character while illegally migrating to Pakistan with her family. Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
For her second release, Kapoor was paired opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's box-office hit Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001). A review in The Hindu noted that based on her first two films, she was "definitely the actress to watch out for". She next starred alongside Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan in Subhash Ghai's flop Yaadein, followed by Abbas-Mustan's moderately successful thriller Ajnabee, co-starring Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Bipasha Basu. Later that year, she appeared in Santosh Sivan's period epic Aśoka, a partly fictionalized account of the life of the Indian emperor of the same name. Featured opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Kapoor found herself challenged playing the complex personality of her character Kaurwaki (a Kalingan princess) with whom Ashoka falls in love. At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Aśoka was nominated for five awards including a Best Actress nomination for Kapoor.
A key point in Kapoor's career came when she was cast by Karan Johar as Pooja ("Poo", a good-natured, superficial girl) in the 2001 melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... alongside an ensemble cast. She received her second Filmfare nomination for the role—her first for Best Supporting Actress—as well as nominations at the International Indian Academy (IIFA) and Screen Awards.
By 2004, Kapoor was keen on broadening her range as an actress and thus decided to portray more challenging roles. Under the direction of Sudhir Mishra, Kapoor played the role of a golden-hearted prostitute in Chameli, a film relating the story of a young prostitute who meets with a widowed investment banker (played by Rahul Bose). When Kapoor was initially offered the film she refused it, explaining that she would be uncomfortable in the role. She relented when Mishra approached her for the second time, and in preparation for the role, visited several of Mumbai's red-light districts at night to study the mannerisms of sex workers and the way they dressed. Chameli was well received by critics and the film marked a significant turning point in her career, earning Kapoor a special jury recognition at the 49th Filmfare Awards.
Kapoor next co-starred in Mani Ratnam's bilingual project Yuva alongside Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji and Esha Deol. The film, consisting of three chapters, tells the story of six individuals linked by a car accident. Kapoor is featured in the third chapter as Oberoi's love interest (Meera, a witty young woman). She then appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed film Dev, which revolved around the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat.
Shortly afterwards, Kapoor was cast for the first time as a villain in the thriller Fida. Set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, the film follows the story of an online heist in which her character, Neha Mehra, becomes involved. Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office, Kapoor received positive reviews for her performance, and some critics noted a distinct progression from her earlier roles. Her subsequent releases that year included Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz and Priyadarshan's comedy Hulchul, both of which were successful at the Indian box office. Following the success of her last two releases, she was cast as the protagonist of the 2005 drama Bewafaa. The feature received mostly negative reviews, and Kapoor's portrayal of Anjali Sahai (an unfaithful woman) was not well received. Nikhat Kazmi of Indiatimes believed that to become a serious actress Kapoor was embodying a maturer, more-jaded character beyond her years in Bewafaa. That same year, she starred in the romantic dramas Kyon Ki and Dosti: Friends Forever, both of which underperformed at the box office;[17] however, Kapoor's performance in Kyon Ki was generally well received by critics (with the BBC describing her as "a pure natural").
In 2006, Kapoor appeared in three films. She first starred in the thriller 36 China Town, followed by the comedy Chup Chup Ke; both were moderately successful. She next portrayed the character of Desdemona in Omkara—the Hindi adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. The film (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj) is a tragedy of sexual jealousy set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh. Omkara was received positively by critics, and Kapoor's portrayal earned her a fourth Filmfare Award and first Screen Award.
Following Omkara, Kapoor took a short break from acting, as she felt that "nothing [was] challenging enough for me to say yes". Kapoor returned to film as the female protagonist Geet Dhillon, a vivacious Sikh girl with a zest for life, in the romantic comedy Jab We Met (2007).
The following year, Kapoor co-starred in Vijay Krishna Acharya's action-thriller Tashan, where she met her future husband in actor Saif Ali Khan.
In 2009, Kapoor was cast as Simrita Rai (a surgeon who moonlights as a model) in Sabbir Khan's battle-of-the-sexes comedy Kambakkht Ishq, opposite Akshay Kumar. The box-office flop Main Aurr Mrs Khanna came next, following which she played the leading lady in the dramatic thriller Kurbaan, alongside Saif Ali Khan and Vivek Oberoi.
Kapoor's second Filmfare nomination that year came for Rajkumar Hirani's National Film Award-winning 3 Idiots, a film loosely based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. 3 Idiots received several Best Movie recognitions at major Indian award functions, and Kapoor was awarded the IIFA Award for Best Actress, among others.[18]
In 2010, Kapoor appeared in the romantic comedy Milenge Milenge, a production delayed since 2005. She next starred alongside Kajol and Arjun Rampal in We Are Family, an official adaptation of the Hollywood tearjerker Stepmom (1998) from director Siddharth Malhotra. Kapoor played the role of the career-oriented Shreya Arora (a character originally played by Julia Roberts) and refrained from watching the film again so she could bring her own interpretation to it.
Kapoor had further success in 2011 as the love interest of Salman Khan's character in the romantic drama Bodyguard, a remake of the 2010 Malayalam film of the same name. She next appeared in Anubhav Sinha's science fiction film Ra.One with Shah Rukh Khan and Arjun Rampal.
Kapoor followed her success in Bodyguard and Ra.One with a role in Shakun Batra's directorial debut Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012) opposite Imran Khan. She next appeared in Agent Vinod, an espionage thriller directed by Sriram Raghavan. Kapoor was enthusiastic about the project, but it met with a tepid response and she was described as miscast.
For her next feature, Kapoor was cast as the protagonist of Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine, a drama revolving around the Bollywood film industry. Kareena furnishes the heroine's character with a rare vulnerability and an exceptional inner life." At the annual Stardust Awards, Kapoor garnered the Editor's Choice for Best Actress, and received additional nominations at Filmfare, IIFA, Producers Guild, Screen and Stardust.
On 16 October 2012, Kapoor married actor Saif Ali Khan in a private ceremony in Bandra, Mumbai. At the end of the year, she co-starred alongside Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji as the "tantalisingly seductive prostitute" Rosie, in Reema Kagti's crime mystery. The film emerged as a box office hit, and earned Kapoor Best Actress nominations at the Screen, Stardust and Zee Cine award ceremonies.
In 2013, Kapoor collaborated with Ajay Devgn for the fourth time (alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee and Amrita Rao) in Prakash Jha's Satyagraha, an ensemble socio-political drama loosely inspired by social activist Anna Hazare's fight against corruption in 2011. Following an appearance in the poorly received romantic comedy Gori Tere Pyaar Mein (2013), Kapoor decreased her workload for the next two years to focus on her marriage and family. She took on smaller parts where she played the love-interest of Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan in the dramas Singham Returns (2014) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) respectively. Singham Returns served as a sequel to the 2011 film Singham and Kapoor's role was written specifically for her by Rohit Shetty—the third time the pair collaborated.
In 2016, Kapoor took on a starring role opposite Arjun Kapoor in Ki & Ka, a romantic comedy about gender stereotypes from the writer-director R. Balki. Kapoor next played the role of Dr. Preet Sahni in Abhishek Chaubey's critically acclaimed Udta Punjab (2016), a crime drama that documents the substance abuse endemic in the Indian state of Punjab.
On 20 December 2016, Kapoor gave birth to her son, Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi, at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.
After a two-year absence from the screen, Kapoor starred in Shashanka Ghosh's Veere Di Wedding (2018), a female buddy film co-starring Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania.Kapoor will next appear alongside Akshay Kumar, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani in Good News, a comedy-drama about a couple trying to get pregnant. She has also committed to star in Angrezi Medium, a sequel to the 2017 film, by Homi Adajania, and will portray Mughal princess Jahanara Begum in Karan Johar's directorial venture, Takht, a historical drama featuring an ensemble cast, including Ranveer Singh, Vicky Kaushal, Alia Bhatt, and Anil Kapoor. In addition, Kapoor will team with Aamir Khan for the third time in Lal Singh Chaddha, a remake of the American comedy-drama Forrest Gump (1994).
Accolades
Kapoor has received six Filmfare Awards out of ten nominations. For her role in Refugee, Kapoor was awarded the Best Female Debut in 2000. She earned a special jury recognition for Chameli (2003), and two Critics Award for Best Actress for Dev (2004) and Omkara (2006). Kapoor later received the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Jab We Met (2007) and We Are Family (2010) respectively.
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