While training at the institute, Kapoor was cast as the female lead in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) opposite his son, Hrithik Roshan.[9] Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project; Kapoor later explained that she had benefited by not doing the film since more prominence was given to the director's son.[9] She debuted later that year alongside Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta's war drama Refugee. Set during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, the film centers on a man who illegally transports civilians back and forth across the border. Kapoor portrayed Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with Bachchan's character while illegally migrating to Pakistan with her family. Her performance was acclaimed by critics; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama described her as "a natural performer" and noted "the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes",[15] while India Today reported that Kapoor belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors that breaks away from character stereotypes.[16] On the experience of acting in her first film, Kapoor described it as "tough ... [but] also a great learning experience".[9] Refugee was a moderate box-office success in India[17] and Kapoor's performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.[18]
Kareena Kapoor smiling away from the camera
Kapoor at the book launch of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... in 2001. Bollywood Hungama reported that the success of the film proved a breakthrough for her.[19]
For her second release, Kapoor was paired opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's box-office hit Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001).[17] A review in The Hindu noted that based on her first two films, she was "definitely the actress to watch out for".[20] She next starred alongside Jackie Shroff and Hrithik Roshan in Subhash Ghai's flop Yaadein, followed by Abbas-Mustan's moderately successful thriller Ajnabee, co-starring Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Bipasha Basu.[17] Later that year, she appeared in Santosh Sivan's period epic Aśoka, a partly fictionalized account of the life of the Indian emperor of the same name. Featured opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Kapoor found herself challenged playing the complex personality of her character Kaurwaki (a Kalingan princess) with whom Ashoka falls in love.[21] Aśoka was screened at the Venice and 2001 Toronto International Film Festivals,[22] and received generally positive reviews internationally but failed to do well in India, which was attributed by critics to the way Ashoka was portrayed.[23] Jeff Vice of The Deseret News described Kapoor as "riveting" and commended her screen presence.[24] Rediff.com, however, was more critical concluding that her presence in the film was primarily used for aesthetic purposes.[25] At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Aśoka was nominated for five awards including a Best Actress nomination for Kapoor.[18]
A key point in Kapoor's career came when she was cast by Karan Johar as Pooja ("Poo", a good-natured, superficial girl) in the 2001 melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... alongside an ensemble cast. Filming the big-budget production was a new experience for Kapoor, and she recalls it fondly: "[I]t was great fun doing [the film and] we had a blast. [W]orking with the unit and the six mega star set was a dream come true."[26] Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... was an immensely popular release, finishing as India's second highest-grossing film of the year and Kapoor's highest-grossing film to that point.[27] It also became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over ₹1 billion (US$15 million) worldwide.[28] Taran Adarsh described Kapoor as "one of the main highlights of the film",[29] and she received her second Filmfare nomination for the role—her first for Best Supporting Actress—as well as nominations at the International Indian Academy (IIFA) and Screen Awards.[18]
Box Office India reported that the success of Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... established Kapoor as a leading actress of Hindi cinema,[30] and Rediff.com published that with Aśoka she had become the highest-paid Indian actress to that point earning ₹15 million (US$220,000) per film.[31] During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor continued to work in a number of projects but experienced a setback. All six films in which she starred—Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Talaash: The Hunt Begins..., Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, and the four-hour war epic LOC Kargil—were critically and commercially unsuccessful.[17] Critics described her performances in these films as "variations of the same character" she played in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., and expressed concern that she was becoming typecast.[32]
2004–06: Professional expansion[edit]
By 2004, Kapoor was keen on broadening her range as an actress and thus decided to portray more challenging roles.[32][33] Under the direction of Sudhir Mishra, Kapoor played the role of a golden-hearted prostitute in Chameli, a film relating the story of a young prostitute who meets with a widowed investment banker (played by Rahul Bose). When Kapoor was initially offered the film she refused it, explaining that she would be uncomfortable in the role.[32] She relented when Mishra approached her for the second time, and in preparation for the role, visited several of Mumbai's red-light districts at night to study the mannerisms of sex workers and the way they dressed.[32] Chameli was well received by critics and the film marked a significant turning point in her career,[33] earning Kapoor a special jury recognition at the 49th Filmfare Awards.[34] Indiatimes praised her "intuitive brilliance" and stated that she had exceeded all expectations.[35] Rediff.com, however, found her portrayal unconvincing and excessively stereotypical, describing her as "sounding more like a teenager playacting than a brash, hardened streetwalker" and comparing her mannerisms to a caricature.[36]
Kapoor next co-starred in Mani Ratnam's bilingual project Yuva alongside Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji and Esha Deol. The film, consisting of three chapters, tells the story of six individuals linked by a car accident. Kapoor is featured in the third chapter as Oberoi's love interest (Mira, a witty young woman). In a Times of India review film critic Subhash K. Jha described her role as "fey and insubstantial", but further stated that "she turns these character traits to her own advantage to create a girl who is at once enigmatic and all-there".[37] She then appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed film Dev, which revolved around the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat.[38] Kapoor's role was that of a Muslim victim named Aaliya, modelled after Zaheera Sheikh (a key witness in Vadodara's Best Bakery case).[38] It earned her a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and nominations for Best Actress at various award ceremonies.[18] Taran Adarsh described her as "first-rate" and in particular noted her scene with Bachchan's character.[39]
Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor pose for the camera
Pictured with co-actor Shahid Kapoor at the audio release of 36 China Town in 2006. During the filming of Fida, the actress began a romantic relationship with Kapoor, whom she later described as having "a major positive influence in my life."[40]
Shortly afterwards, Kapoor was cast for the first time as a villain in the thriller Fida. Set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, the film follows the story of an online heist in which her character, Neha Mehra, becomes involved. Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office, Kapoor received positive reviews for her performance, and some critics noted a distinct progression from her earlier roles.[17][41] Her subsequent releases that year included Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz and Priyadarshan's comedy Hulchul, both of which were successful at the Indian box office.[17] Following the success of her last two releases, she was cast as the protagonist of the 2005 drama Bewafaa. The feature received mostly negative reviews, and Kapoor's portrayal of Anjali Sahai (an unfaithful woman) was not well received. Nikhat Kazmi of Indiatimes believed that to become a serious actress Kapoor was embodying a maturer, more-jaded character beyond her years in Bewafaa.[42] That same year, she starred in the romantic dramas Kyon Ki and Dosti: Friends Forever, both of which underperformed at the box office;[17] however, Kapoor's performance in Kyon Ki was generally well received by critics (with the BBC describing her as "a pure natural").[43]
In 2006, Kapoor appeared in three films. She first starred in the thriller 36 China Town, followed by the comedy Chup Chup Ke; both were moderately successful.[17] She next portrayed the character of Desdemona in Omkara—the Hindi adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. The film (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj) is a tragedy of sexual jealousy set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh.[44] Describing Bhardwaj as a "world-class director [with] a unique style", Kapoor was cast in the project after the director had seen her performance in Yuva, and was subsequently required to attend script-reading sessions along with the entire cast.[45][46] The feature premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival.[44][47] Omkara was received positively by critics, and Kapoor's portrayal earned her a fourth Filmfare Award and first Screen Award.[18] In a 2010 retrospective of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" of Hindi cinema, Filmfare wrote that she was "brilliant" and praised her ability to "effortless[ly]" convey the various emotions her character went through.[48] Kapoor considered her role in Omkara as a "new benchmark" in her career, and compared her portrayal of Dolly with her own evolving maturity as a woman.[49]
Following Omkara, Kapoor took a short break from acting, as she felt that "nothing [was] challenging enough for me to say yes".[49] In an interview with The Times of India Kapoor commented, "In my initial years in the industry, I pushed myself to do a lot of work because I was greedy. I did some films—which I now regret—purely for the money. Today, I want to do selective films."[50] Later that year, she appeared briefly in one of the year's biggest hits, the Farhan Akhtar action-thriller Don (a remake of the 1978 film of the same name).[28]
2007–11: Rise to prominence[edit]
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