Yet, she has the unmistakable carriage of a diva who revels in the role.
Kareena (Bebo) Kapoor is 5 ft 7 inches tall and pencil slim under-52 kilos. "1'm obsessed with losing weight, yaar," she drawls. Variations of ya, yeah, yaar dot a lot of her sentences. And her conversation is generously sprinkled with 'I think'; most times, her line is incomplete without the two words.
For someone so slim and so "obsessed with losing weight", she's also an incorrigible foodie. The kapoor blood just has to show up. In fact she almost sneers with disbelief when you tell her that you're not one.When she took off for Hong Kong with Saif to herald the New Year, she was already planning what to eat and where!
For all that, she's also obsessively vegetarian. No eggs, no fish, no meat at all.
"I'm a complete vegetarian and will always remain one," she paractically swears. "Shahid Kapoor gave me a book to read. Ever since, I've been converted. I'm against eating anything non-veg. I'm trying to convince my sister and my mother all the time, I keep saying, avoid it, avoid it. It's working a little with my mother. Being a vegetarian also helps me keep fit and healthy, yaar. I love it.
She ruminates, "My mother tells me that I was always inclined more towards vegetarian than non-vegfood. That wehn we'd go out as a family for a meal to the Oberoi's or something, even as a child I'd always ask for a vegetarian biryani."Her life, currently, is anything but Spartan-vegetarian. While stardom-trackers stalked fresh blood in 2007, Kareena Kapoor sprang back with the infectious enthusiasm of a tiger cub, and clambered quickly to the vacant spot at the top. From there you can only preen, especially with a new man (blue-blooded too) declaring on his forearm (tattooed forever) that you are his special woman.
And, she's looking like a million bucks. "I do a lot of yoga, " to look like this, she explains. "I don't go to a gym. This loss of weight is only due to yoga. Not the regular kind of yoga that we normally practice. THe yoga I do is very strenuous, the power yoga of Bharat Thakur. It has helped me but I can definitely say that it's not meant for everyone. Like I can do a hundred surya namaskars at one go every day. It has to be done over a period of about a year because it takes six to eight months to build up your stamina to be able to actually do a hundred surya namaskars without stopping. I do it every day, it's like showering. Even if I go to bed at 5 am, I'll sleep for an hour, wake up and do it. It refreshes me, I don't feel tired at all. If I'm not shooting, I do it at any hour, whenever I have the time for it. It's not a fixed thing like I have to do it at 6 in the morning. It's not an outdated form of yoga, it's modern and keeps all the yougsters going. The adrenaline rush is really too much.
"If I'm shooting outdoors, even if it's for just three days, I have my trainer come with me. Bharat has these well-trained assistants, one of them comes with me. Once in a while I might go on the treadmill for a run but otherwise it's just power yoga for me."Last year, this time, she'd reached a plateau. Everything about her had become dull and predictable. Suddenly end-last year, didn't her life really spice up?
She nods, "Most people were talking about me and sying that I'm not doing films, I'm focusing more on my personal life. That was pathetic. But I think I'm having the last laugh because I was waiting for the right film. After Omkara, I don't like to name movies, but to be just a part of a commercial movie was not what I was looking at. I am always willing to take risks. I wanted to wait until Imtiaz actually wrote Jab We Met for me. When I finally heard the script I know it was worth the wait. After Omkara I hadn't really signed anything. I was hearing scripts but I didn't want to go on a shoot and be completely bored, put on makeup and do a role standing in London!" Yeah, we get the picture.And get you're doing Golmall 2?
"Which is completely commercial," she completes your question for you. She went on board because, "I am the only girl in the lead and I have the central role. I think it's a neat, clean movie, very unlike some of the other comedies. It's a family entertainer. Also, I wanted to dabble in comedy a bit. I had done so much of serious cinema like Omkara and Dev that I thought Jab We Met and Golmall would be a good break. Sure enough, the way Jab We Met has woked I dont think I could've asked for more.
Yah, you want to say, suddently inspired. Jab We Met continued to be in the theatres even after the big Diwali releases came along."I guess the stars of the movie were right," she philosophises. "Something karmic just worked, besides which I think it was a great film. It had freshness, it was young, it worked. The music was very nice too."
It's truly 'Congratulations and Celebration' time for Kareena Kapoor.Jab We Met helped her mop up and take home all the awards for Best Actress of the year.
And it was one of her best performances.
"Everyone has felt that," Kareena Kapoor quickly acknowledges. "But I am still a bit partial to Refugee and Omkara," she adds with a twinge.What happened to her films with Aamir Khan? One with Vishal Bhardwaj (which never took off) and Lajjo with Mani Ratnam?
"I think Aamir and Bobby Bedi (the producer) had some problems over Lajjo.
Maybe it will be third time lucky?"Yah. I hope so. I'm really looking forward to working with Aamir."
She'd barely said it when Rajkumar Hirani came along and plonked his plum Idiot, costarring Aamir Khan at Bebo's doorstep. Someone up there sure is listening to her all of a sudden!
Apart from the best of makers (Yashraj, Hirani, Karan Johar, it can't get better), Kareena Kapoor has also snagged a record number of endorsements. In fact lately hasn't she done more ads than films?
"Yah," she sounds almost bored. "But that's the sign of a good, successful actor today. I think the popularity of an actor is measured by the endorsements.
"I did about eight endorsements in 2007. Paint, creams, skin care, shampoo, clothes, jewellery, colas, Everything. I don't endorse alcoholic or tobacco products. I think the audience also judges you by what you endorse. Endorsements are as important as films today."
Back to movies. How does she feel about Sanjay Leela Bhansali not making Bajirao Mastani with her? Especially after both of them had patched up (She had wanted Devdas, he gave it to Ash.) He made Black instead, then Saawariya, now there's talk that he'll make Bajirao with Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek. Does she feel cheated?
Kareena Kapoor looks the blase diva as she disinterstedly taps her polished nails and says, "First and foremost, I was never signed for Bajirao."But she did a photo shoot (with Salman) for it.
"I think we wanted to see if we could work it out. But I don't think Sanjay ever signed me for it, nor was there any announcement that the film was going to start in two months or whatever.
She doesn't fell disappointed?(Emphatically) "Not at all. Some films are made, some are not. You can't rely on just one film being made."
She doesn't want to give too much importance to any one film?
"In this industry you can't take anything for granted. Till it really goes on the floors."
One of Kareena Kapoor's really un-diva-like traits is that she's willing to let go of the past - she's essentially a no-grudges person who went to the Saawariya premiere and held out an olive branch to estranged Kapoor family members too.
"I went for the premiere of Saawariya," she nods. "And I enjoyed the movie because I'm biased towards Sanjay, I like the kind of movies he makes. I was also a little biased because of Ranbir. I think he carried the film. Also, the songs were lovely."
Bebo had strenght enough to go out there and greet her family, with here new man by her side.
What does it feel like to be dating royalty?
"Maybe we have a little bit in common coming from the lineage that I do,"the diva surfaces. "He also has a lineage, so that's an additional bit of conversation between us. But it's great because he's a wonderful guy."
There has been talk that she will do a film with Vidya Balan (who is relentlessly being linked with Kareena Kapoor's ex-beau Shahid Kapur). Any problems with that?
"I think Sajid Khan has been planning something and I have in principle agreed to do the film. I think it'll be great to work with Vidya. I don't see any issue why we can't work together. It's a very outdated thought."
Right. She's moved on, why can't he? "My mantra today is, who knows what life will bring you? I'm not planning the future. God knows what my destiny is."
Well, suddenly in November-December her resume got more interesting. Jab We Met perked up her career and a new man entered her life.
"Having someone new in your life personally is nice. But I don't think it's got anything to do with my film doing well," she's quick to pint out.
"Anyway, my focus now is not on my personal life."
Does it have to be personal life or career?Why not both simultaneously?
"Right now I'm very ambitious. I know what I want and nothing is going to come in the way of achieving that."
Is that because of Jab We Met? "I want to work for the next five-six years, I want to focus on my work. And then let destiny lead me to the shaadi mandap." I won't ask her, is she married to Saif?
"The answer to that will be no. It's not on the radar at all. Like I said, let destiny bring the man to the mandap."
Would she opt for a quiet secret marriage, or for a proper marriage like Karisma had, that the world will know about?
"I would like the blessings of everyone, my family, the industry, so many people I've worked with, shared good times with. I would like everybody to be with me and share the moment with me. My friends, colleagues, directors, producers, writers, critics, everyone who has supported me and loved me for what I am,. I think they must come and bless me and my man."
So she won't go for a secret marriage? "No, I'm not a runaway bride, the kind Julia Roberts was, sit on a horse and run away from a wedding. That kind of running away I'm quite capable of doing!"
Rumour has it that she did just that to Shahid.
That she practically ditched Shahid at the altar and walked off. Is that right?
"Not right at all."
Does it hurt?
"Sometimes the time is not right, things don't work out. But I'd like to leave it at that, God is there."
After having gone through a relationship and growing apart, does she understand her parents' separation better?
"Mmm, yeah, but I always understood them. An my parents were never really separated, separated. They were living apart but they were always friends. My father is my father, he is my best friend, we talk all the time, he's home all the time. And you dont know what life can bring you. That's why when people ask about Shahid and me I always say, maybe the time was not right for Shahid and me and I do't know what the future holds. I don't want to end it on a bad not or have any negative feelings."
People said, she gave him a goodbye kiss in Jab W Met!
Shrugs, "I think God knowws what the future holds."
Shahid has said he was uncomfortable about the kiss. WWas she? "No. Because I think once I'm in front of the camera, I 'm quite spontaneous and uninhibited. I just do my work, I lok at it as a professional thing, as a job to do. It's part of the story, so I'm okay about it."
Is there anything that has made her uncomfortable on screen?
"No, because I would have said I don't want to do it on the script level itself. I'd make sure of it before it went on the floors."
And over the years is she loosening up, shedding a few inhibitions before the camera?
"Yah, like dancing was a fear, I'm not a trained dancer, I just have fun when I do a song. And I think that's nice. I'd rather do that than be a trained dancer. i don't know about any inhibitions I had earlier, I think I was just born to act. There's nothing else I can be."
She does seem at ease most times. Even while filming kissing scenes - her first screen kiss was with Fardeen Khan in Dev-she didn't look inhibited.
"It was told to me at script level. I was absolutely okay about it. I wouldn't be okay with a kiss if it's just put in for the sake of having a kissing scene. People tend to do that, in which case I won't do the scene. People tend to do that, in which case I won't do the scene. If it's a part of the story and it's needed, I'm fine with it. Like the kiss in Raja Hindustani was the crux of the film."
But Lolo was upset when she was asked about it.
"She is more quiet and subdued. She is very introverted."
So close and yet so dissimilar. Kareena Kapoor is a lot more outgoing and extroverted. Being clandestine can sometimes make a relationship seem sleazy - Bebo agrees with that. And she is happier meeting her current man openly.
But where's the meeting point? She's the kind who'll casually walk into Sampan (the Chinese restaurant at erstwhile Holiday Inn) or Kabab Hut (at the Sun-n-Sand) for a meal while Saif seems more formal, more aware of who he is. "No, no, he's not like that at all. In fact I'm more aware. You'll find him strolling down Lokhandwala with his kids. He likes to stand and eat road ka khana."
Not too nawabi?
"Not at all." She 's sure about this. I s she part of his film production?
"I won't be doing the film he's immediately starting with Imtiaz Ali. That will be with Deepika Padukone. But I will be acting in the one after that."
Is she involved with his production? "No. I have nothing to do with his production. It's his."
What's his is hers. "Not really. I'm an independent girl. I don't want to mix up anything."
Does financial independence matter to her?
"Yes, I've been working since I was 17, so I am. I don't like to ask anybody for anything. Only my mother. She's the only one I feel I'm answerable to. I also think it'll always be very difficult for a man because I will always be financially independent."
