Hansal Mehta said that athough Kareena Kapoor Khan is a huge star, her acting potential is yet to be fully tapped into by filmmakers.
Hansal Mehta recently directed Kareena Kapoor Khan in his thriller, The Buckingham Murders. In a new chat with a leading publication, the filmmaker talked about how although the actress has portrayed diverse characters in her career, directors are yet to utilize her acting talent to the fullest.
The ‘Aligarh’ actor said, “I’ve always felt that Kareena is a vastly underutilised actor. She’s a big star, but as an actor, I feel there’s a lot more. There’s a huge reservoir that the world is yet to see. I feel this is the beginning and yes, when people say it’s a career-best performance — without sounding too vain — (referring to her performance in his film), I also believe so.”
He further shared how he got Kareena on board to play the role of Jasmeet in The Buckingham Murders. Mehta revealed that although he signed the film as a director in 2019, he had heard the story in 2018 when he was filming Chhalaang.
The director recalled, “Aseem Arrora, the co-writer of Chhalaang, narrated the idea to me and then to Ekta Kapoor. Ekta then signed me for it. In 2020, during the pandemic, Ekta organized a Zoom call between Kareena and me. Kareena had read a 10-15 page treatment of the film and had already decided to do it.”
Even before The Buckingham Murders hit the big screens, netizens after watching the trailer, drew comparisons between the Kareena starrer and Kate Winslet’s Mare of Easttown. Like the ‘Titanic’ star’s film, The Buckingham Murders too, revolved around Kareena’s character investigating the murder of a child.
On being asked if true originality can exist in a medium like cinema when Bollywood films are compared to Hollywood ventures, Hansal said, “Firstly, originality is overrated and misunderstood. Secondly, this comparison with something else is a sign of the mediocrity of the person who is comparing it. It’s reductive.”
He further added, “If there’s a story with a grieving mother, and you immediately say, ‘Oh, this is like Mare of Easttown,’ that is reductive and lazy. This film was written much before we ever saw Mare of Easttown or it ever came out. This film is its own beast, it’s a story by itself. People think they’re scoring brownie points, but they’re showing their mediocrity.”
Meanwhile, Kareena Kapoor Khan marked 25 years in Indian cinema this year. The actress made her acting debut with JP Dutta’s Refugee in 2000.
