MUMBAI: Bhopal’s energetic but controlled population which is getting an eye-ful of topnoptch Bollywood stars in their city, have given Kareena Kapoor reason to be thankful.
For the first time in her entire career Kareena has shot crowd scenes. Prakash Jha, known to capture his actors at mammoth public rallies (remember Katrina Kaif’s public speech in ‘Raajneeti’?), made it known to Kareena at the beginning of the shooting that there would be sequences involving crowds of 300-400 junior artistes and locals.
To her credit Kareena who plays an investigative journalist in Jha’s ‘Satyagrah’ was game for the novel experience of mingling with the mob, from the start.
Says a source from Bhopal, “Kareena was neither intimidated by the Big B with whom she faced the camera with utmost fluency, nor did she get daunted when she had to mingle with huge crowds, something she had never done before in her entire career. Madhya Pradesh is a sasural for both Bachchan Saab and Kareena and the people of Bhopal treat them accordingly with utmost respect.”
Confirming Kareena’s compelling comfort level with the crowds of Bhopal director Prakash Jha said, “Kareena is a revelation. I’ve worked with all my other principle actors Bachchan Saab, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee and Ajay Devgn before. But this is the first time I am working with Kareena. Woh kamaal ki actress hai.”
Prakash says Kareena plunged into the crowd scenes without reservations. “There are scenes where she has to shoot with large crowds. Some of the people in the crowds are theatres actors and junior artistes. But a lot of them are local people from Bhopal who have no idea of how to face the camera. Kareena shows no reservations about mingling with the masses. She is a natural born actress.”
The director promises a new dimension to Kareena’s personality in ‘Satyagrah’. Though Prakash is reluctant to let out details one gathers that Kareena’s relationship with Ajay Devgn in ‘Satyagrah’ is bereft of filmy trappings.
“No romantic songs, no exchange of filmy dialogues. Kareena and Ajay play a mature couple whose love is a given, not an occasion for PDA,” says source.
