Kareena Kapoor: September 2009

Kareena Kapoor Biography
Born on: September 21, 1980
Born in: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Nationality: Indian
Career: Actress

Kareena Kapoor is a renowned Bollywood actress, who belongs to the reputed Kapoor family of the Hindi film industry. Adored as ‘Bebo’, she has mesmerized the audience with both her beauty as well as acting mettle. She is one of the few versatile actresses in the industry, who can play a variety of contrasting roles with equal ease and poise. The actress had her own share of struggle and has finally matured to become a yielding name. Apart from the commercially successful films, she has done a number of unconventional roles bagging critical acclaim.

Childhood & Early Life
Kareena Kapoor was born on September 21, 1980 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She is a part of the famous Kapoor family of Punjabi origin. She is the youngest daughter of renowned actor Randhir Kapoor and Babita. She is the granddaughter of legendary actor and ‘Showman’ of Hindi film industry, Raj Kapoor and great granddaughter of Prithviraj Kapoor. Her elder sister Karishma Kapoor is also a well known actress and her uncle Rishi Kapoor is a known name in the acting arena. Kareena is fondly known as ‘Bebo’ while her formal name comes from the book ‘Anna Karenina.’

Kareena Kapoor received education at Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls Boarding School in Dehradun. After this, she studied commerce at Mithibai College, Vile Parle for two years and later embarked upon a three - month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard. After this, she enrolled at the Government's Law College in Churchgate but at the end of first year, she started training under Kishor Namit Kapoor, the founder of Kapoor Acting Lab to realize her initial dream of becoming an actress.

Early Career & Breakthrough
Initially, Kapoor was scheduled to make her debut with Rakesh Roshan’s, ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’, opposite Hritik Roshan. However, she opted out after sometime and made her debut in J. P Dutta’s ‘Refugee’, opposite Abhishek Bacchan, released in 2000. Her performance in the film was highly acclaimed and she went on to win the Fimfare Best Female Debut Award. Following this, Kareena did ‘Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai’ opposite Tusshar Kapoor in 2001, which received immense success at the box - office.

Her next films ‘Yaadein’ and ‘Ajnabee’ didn’t do well at the box office. Later that year, she appeared in Santosh Sivan’s ‘Asoka’, a period epic, which received moderate success. Her performance received mixed reactions from critics, giving her a nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards. Her last release in 2001 was Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi KabhieGham’, which was a blockbuster hit at the box office. For this, she earned a nomination for Filmfare Best Supporting Actress.

In the years 2002 and 2003, Kareena’s acting career experienced a downslide. She gave six films during this period, Mujhse Dosti Karoge! and Jeena Sirf Merre Liye in 2002, and Talaash: The Hunt Begins..., Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon and J.P. Dutta’s war epic LOC Kargil in 2003. All these films turned out to be commercially unsuccessful in India. With this, the acting potential of the actress was being questioned, leading to negatives reviews.

Comeback
The year 2004 arrived with new hopes for Kareena. The first film this year was Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Chameli’, opposite Rahul Bose. The film bagged positive reviews and Kapoor’s performance won her the Filmfare Special Performance Award. After this, she was seen in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed ‘Dev’. For this, she earned a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, as well as nominations for Best Actress at various award ceremonies.

The next film on the block was ‘Fida’, in which Kareena was seen in a negative role for the first time. Though the film didn’t do well at the box office, the actress was acclaimed for her performance. The subsequent films that year were Abbas-Mustan's moderately successful thriller, ‘Aitraaz’ and Priyadarshan's comedy Hulchul, which was a huge hit. In 2005, Kareena appeared in Dharmesh Darshan’s ‘Bewafa’, which did not do any good for the actress. Later that year, Priyadarshan’s ‘Kyon Ki’ was released.

The film as well as her performance was well received by the critics. After this came ‘Dosti: Friends Forever’, which didn’t do good business in India. In 2006, she played lead roles in ‘36 China Town’ and ‘Chup Chup Ke’, which received moderate success. Her next big hit was Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Omkara’, in which her performance was deemed highly commendable. This bagged her fourth Filmfare Award and first Star Screen Award. After this, she was seen in an item number in ‘Don - The Chase Begins’.

In 2008, she once again mesmerized audience with her performance in Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Jab We Met’. The film became one of the biggest hits of the year, winning Kapoor a Filmfare Best Actress Award and her second Star Screen Award for Best Actress. This was followed by Vijay Krishna Acharya's action-thriller ‘Tashan’. Though this film marked her comeback to the Yash Raj banner, it failed to create any magic at the box - office.

Personal Life
In 2004, Kareena Kapoor began dating actor Shahid Kapoor, son of veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor. The relationship created much hype in media but came to an end three years later during the filming of, ‘Jab We Met’. It was initially perceived to be a publicity stunt, but it was soon realized that the couple had actually broken up. While the rumors of her break up with Shahid were still floating in the air, she was seen getting close to actor Saif Ali Khan. In October, 2007, Khan confirmed the link up between the two, during Manish Malhotra’s grand finale show at the Lakme Fashion Week.

Awards
2001- Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for Refugee
2004 - Filmfare Special Performance Award for Chameli
2005 - Filmfare Best Actress (Critics) Award for Dev
2007 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Omkara
2008 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Jab We Met

Nominations
2001 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Asoka
2001 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
2006 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Omkara

Filmography
2000 - Refugee
2001 - Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, Yaadein, Ajnabee, Asoka, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
2002 - Mujhse Dosti Karoge, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye
2003 - Talaash: The Hunt Begins, Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, LOC Kargil
2004 - Chameli, Yuva, Dev, Fida, Aitraaz, Hulchul
2005 - Bewafaa, Kyon Ki, Dosti: Friends Forever
2006 - 36 China Town, Chup Chup Ke, Omkara, Don - The Chase Begins Again
2007 - Kya Love Story Hai, Jab We Met
2008 - Halla Bol, Tashan
2009 - Kambakkht ishq