Filmfare was right, I am convinced that Kareena Kapoor is Bollywood’s most powerful actress, and this has got nothing to do with the box-office
Kareena Kapoor
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success or critical failure of Kambakkht Ishq — her new film and the big release of this year.

This is her first film in 2009, but certainly not her last, she has Main Aur Mrs Khanna with Salman Khan, Kurbaan with Saif Ali Khan and 3 Idiots with Aamir Khan all lined up for October-November. In between, she will be shooting for Agent Vinod and Stepmom, 100 days each from September onwards. Nowadays she reads the scripts (“the whole scripts, twice over”) before accepting a film. “Earlier, I used to give in to temptation, greed, often do the film for a friend. Now I only do it for the role. My role has to be the central part ... or no way,” she told me bluntly.

I was watching her do a photo shoot at Mehboob Studios, effortlessly changing one costume after another, altering her look with hair and makeup, pouting at the camera, making sensual love to it with smouldering eyes. I distracted her with a question: what does power mean to Bollywood’s No. 1 actress? She took it straight off the bat, “Power to me is the fact that I can choose which film I’d like to do, what brand I want to endorse, which show I want to be part of, what role I want to essay ... Power doesn’t mean I can make any film a super hit and every show houseful. I’ve put in ten years of blood and sweat, 18 hours of work a day, just to get here. Lots of films I wanted to do, I was not a part of because nobody approached me. But I went to sleep at night knowing it would happen to me. And I made it happen. I don’t have many people to thank for this. So, I would like audiences to recognise me as an actress today. I’m here to sell talent. And my talent is like a temple. I protect it. I worship it. Today I am on the power list, tomorrow I won’t be, but I will continue the effort. I am a courageous girl, I’ve been brave to take decisions. I’m honest — I don’t hide anything, not my relationship, nor the fact that I want to do path-breaking roles like in Omkara, Chameli and Jab We Met. I want to be known for my body of work. Nothing else matters.”

It is true, I think, nothing seems to matter to this girl; certainly not the power, nor box-office success and failure, the critics’ comments, the competition within the industry for her coveted status as the No. 1 actress... nothing matters but her next role. And she’s using her power to fuel the passion within her for films and to demand more challenging and different roles. “My mother, my sister Karisma, told me not to let it go to my head,” she said. “How can I do that? My career and acting are most important to me. The flame is in my blood, the fire is always burning, it comes across in every photo. Can’t you see that?”

I thought I was, at the photo shoot. But you take a look at her on this page and tell me what you see...