Actress Kareena Kapoor believes that her portrayal of a fading Bollywood superstar in Heroine is her bravest role so far.
The film, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, is said to have been inspired by real-life incidents from B-town and Kareena says not many actresses would have taken the risk of accepting this role.
"I wanted to be a heroine since my childhood. I am happy that Heroine has turned out to be my bravest role. Not many actresses would want to play the role of a declining superstar," Kareena told PTI.
"Typically you see films where a star's journey is shown from rise to fall and then rise. In Heroinethat's not the case as from the very first frame you can see that this superstar is declining," she adds.
Kareena accepted the part because she connected with the character of Mahi Arora and also felt that this was a challenge worth taking.
"I always take challenges when it comes to performance oriented roles and Heroine isn't something that I could have missed. I played a prostitute at the age of 22 when many people around me said that it was a wrong move and said I was way too young to pick up such a part.
"Still, I was convinced to play the part so I did it. Similarly when not many would have been courageous enough to take up the part of 'Heroine', I went ahead and did that. The character is such that you feel connected to it and really feel bad about what she is going through," she says.
Bhandarkar had first offered the film to Kareena and when things couldn't work out due to date issues, he had taken the film to Aishwarya Rai. Later when Aishwarya got pregnant, it was time for Kareena to return to the film with her date diary being sorted out.
"As I have always maintained, it was destiny coming into play. Moreover, every film comes with akundli of its own. I feel whatever happens, it is ultimately for the best."
As for comparisons with the character of Mahi Arora, Kareena says that it is way too extreme since in real life she is very sorted out.
"I am not someone like Mahi though I could easily relate to the scenes as they take place in the film. I have given my 200 per cent to the film and the kind of reactions that are coming have reassured me that I have done something well."
Moreover, the reassurance that came her way from her director further kept the motivation level up for her.
"Madhur has this perception that since he makes these hard hitting films, he would be considered very serious by people around him. However the fact is that in real life he is so much fun. He is so positive that it makes things easy on the sets.
"I may be doing a scene and he may compliment by screaming jalwa. I got used to his vocabulary over a period of time. I have made a friend in Madhur and can proudly say that together we have taken this film a step forward over what we had envisioned."
With Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda in principal roles along with Divya Dutta, Shahana Goswami and Ranvir Shorey, Heroine releases all over on September 21.
