Kareena rises to the top

The 28-year-old queen of Bollywood has enough films on the floors to keep her busy at least for the next couple of years.

IN A male-centric industry, if there is one female star who has carved her own special niche it is Kareena Kapoor. The numero uno Bollywood babe, the vivacious Kareena has trumped competition from all her peers to bag the 2007 best actor award for her histrionics talents.

With new projects worth over Rs 2 billion (RM153.1mil) riding on her, she is set to make the cash registers ringing with her on-screen performances in the coming years.

The super-duper success of the female-centric Jab We Met, which earned her a bagful of awards, including the recent Zee Cine Awards trophy, has made her the most expensive female star in the history of Bollywood.

Charging anything between Rs 25 million and Rs 35 million (RM1.9mil and RM2.7mil) per film, depending on the production house, male lead, director, etc, the 28-year-old Kareena has enough films on the floors to keep her busy at least for the next couple of years.

Her success could be the result of both pedigree and performance. Daughter of Randhir Kapoor and Babita, the star couple of the late 60s and 70s, and the granddaughter of the legendary Raj Kapoor and, not to forget, the great granddaughter of the great thespian, Prithviraj Kapoor, Kareena has Bollywood in her blood.

Her elder sister, Karishma, till recently was playing female lead in Bollywood till she chucked films to marry a rich industrialist.

Kareena, of course, has no time to consider matrimony at this stage. Being one of the busiest stars, she will be seen opposite Salman Khan in Main Aur Mrs Singh, with Shah Rukh Khan in My Name is Khan, with Aamir Khan in Idiots, opposite Ajay Devgan in Golmaal Returns, and opposite Saif Ali Khan in Roadside Romeo.

Indeed, the last named Khan, son of the celebrity couple Mansur Ali Khan, the former prince of Pataudi and the captain of the Indian cricket team in the 70s, and Sharmila Tagore, the top Bollywood actor of the 60s and 70s, is the latest beau of Kareena.

Whether or not she has actually married Saif, who was earlier married to now retired actor Amrita Singh and has two children from that union, has been a matter of great speculation in the filmy media.

After his much-publicised divorce, Saif was in a live-in relationship with an Italian divorcee for a couple of years. But the arrangement did not lead to matrimony.

Kareena, meanwhile, was romantically linked with young actor Shahid Kapoor. The two never made any bones of their romance and declared that they would marry in the near future.

Indeed, they were caught on a cellphone camera smooching in a restaurant by a fellow diner.

So when they broke up, everyone in Bollywood and outside was taken by complete surprise.

A bigger surprise awaited the film-crazy nation when a few months after the break-up of the two couples from their respective love interests, it was officially known that Kareena Kapoor and Saif were now an item.

Saif has Kareena tattooed on his arm and Kareena has his name tattooed on hers. Because she of late has taken to wearing a big and expensive stone on her ring finger, speculation in the film press has it that the two are already engaged or secretly married, something she would neither confirm nor deny.

In recent interviews she has plainly refused to talk about her personal life, saying that she is ready and willing always to discuss her professional work. The star is not unduly modest while talking about her filmy life, though.

She says with a straight face that she is a star because “I was born to be a star”. Education was a low priority since she knew from an early age that she would one day join the family profession, that is, films.

Because she is a successful star, she is the favourite for product endorsements. From hair lotions and toothpaste to automobiles and watches, Kareena currently endorses about a dozen brands, charging nearly Rs 20 million (RM1.5mil) for each.

Since her link-up with Saif, who is the favourite of city-bred English-speaking audiences, there is a huge demand for the two to do television ads together.