Kareena makes history as first female Hindi actor with solo fest

In a first for the Hindi film industry, a selection of Kareena Kapoor Khan films across her career in Bollywood will be showcased at a film festival. This is the first time a female actor’s films are being exclusively screened at such an event, though both Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan have had festivals dedicated to their work earlier.Kareena Kapoor Khan spoke to the media about the significance of the upcoming show. Excerpts:Q What it feels like to have a festival of solely her films“On any film set every day, I feel like I have given my first shot. There exists that greed to be in front of the cameras. I still have that fire and passion for taking up different roles. That passion as an actor keeps me going. I am grateful and honoured to have this festival of all my films. I can’t believe it!”Q Legacy of the Kapoor Khandhan, sustaining in a male-dominated industry“One has to keep proving oneself every time. Rather than wanting to be in every film, it’s important to reinvent yourself. Having to sustain in this male dominated scenario is scary. In order to do so, one has to take up different roles. After I played Poo and Geet, many such offers kept pouring in, but I decided to challenge myself and take up different roles. I’m an actor and I love my job. I have been here for 25 years because of the loyal support and connection with the masses and my fans. Every 5 years, I have been trying to do different stuff, in order to leave a mark on the audiences with the characters I portray on screen.”Q Managing to capture the limelight even when working with superstars“I have done films with superstars. I have also proved my longevity as an actor. This was possible because of the ‘X factor’ combined with talent. I also believe that luck plays a 30% role in one’s career. I just focused on giving my best to every character I decided to take up. I am lucky that my fans have loved all the characters that I have played.”Q Bold decision to take up Buckingham Murders“We as actors need to make brave choices. Hopefully, I will be taking up different characters even 25 years from here. I remember, when I took up Chameli, people said ‘Kareena yeh role nahi kar payegi.’ So today I can say, ‘Mein yeh kirdar bhi kar sakti hoon.’ If I had not done different roles and films, aaj yeh festival nahi ho raha hota [smiles]. I focused on my performance and I want people to take me seriously. Constantly being at it is the reason for longevity. I’m still trying to prove myself as an actor.Some films will gain box office success while some may be liked by audiences and critics. We cannot restrict our choices of films and characters. I personally choose characters which I feel for. If you choose something you don’t like, you may not like being on that set. We have to be on a film set for 60 to 70 days and if we don’t like it, how will we enjoy doing it?”