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'Madhuri is simply great'

V S Srinivasan

Karisma Kapoor. Click for bigger pic!

It's been a long, hard road for Karisma Kapoor, sometimes potholed -- remember the cringemaking Sarkhailo khatiya in Raja Babu -- but overall good. She's had three hits this year -- Hero No 1, Judwaa and Dil To Pagal Hai -- and three last year -- Saajan Chale Sasuraal, Raja Hindustani and Jeet. Time, we thought, we put her through a grilling.

How does she feel now, we asked her first.

"The response to DTPH has been heart-warming. The way it picked up after a slow start felt good. Six hits in a row is pretty difficult to digest, but again, there is much pressure to perform better, to sign better films and be recognised as a much better actress."

Kapoor's lolling in the comfort of her well-appointed Tempo Traveller outside a bungalow in Juhu, Bombay, where she's shooting.

With Aamir Khan in Raja Hindustani. Click for bigger pic!

"When you realise that you are the great grand-daughter of the great Prithviraj Kapoor, grand-daughter of Raj Kapoor and have a whole lot of distinguished performers in the family like Shashi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Neetuaunty, Papa (Randhir Kapoor), Mummy (Babita) and others, the pressure mounts considerably. People expect more..."

But while other star progeny have had the family back them, this Kapoor hadn't. For the prestigious R K banner wouldn't launch her. She even dropped a role in Barsaat, in which Dharmendra finally launched his son Bobby with Twinkle Khanna, daughter of Rajesh and Dimple.

"It was tough saying no to him (Dharmendra). But had I waited for it, I would not be where I am today. I'd be five years behind. If you realise that Twinkle has only done four films, I certainly feel, I took the right decision."

Another good step was the role she did in Prem Qaidi.

"Everyone told me that I was taking a wrong move, acting with a newcomer. But I stuck to my decision and the film clicked."

But there were other decision that now she rues. Like those cheap dances she did. Remind her of it at times and she even pleads with you, even to the point of tears, to stop talking about it. This time though, she answers it easily enough.

Click for bigger pic!

"Even today some people keep raking up certain numbers I did in earlier films... I had to make my career on my own. I had no godfather (to tell her what to do). I had many hits but people refused to consider me a good actress, because I was just jumping around and dancing. But today, after I have been accepted in Raja Hindustani, the scene has changed."

But then there still are hard-core critics who refuse to take her seriously.

"The past is pretty difficult to wipe out. I know, that I have changed and that is enough for me. There are the some magazines which called me Heroine No 1 after Hero No 1was a hit and there are still some people who refuse to accept me in the top bracket. I am worried about being accepted by people who come to see my films." The critics, I can only try and please, and hope they like me as an actress."

In the new year, she has plenty of work -- Silsila Hai Pyar Ka opposite Chandrachur Singh, one untitled film opposite Shah Rukh Khan to be directed by David Dhawan, Biwi No 1 and Haseena Maan Jayegi both directed by Dhawan, one film for the Noorani brothers,... Not to mention the Rajshris's Hum Saath Saath Hai, Kundan Shah's Loveria and a yet unnamed film with Priyadarshan.

Still she manages to attract so much resentment -- it's almost unreasonable, the kind of animosity that's directed at her, partly due to the patently vulgar numbers she did, those ones with all those double entendres.

Click for bigger pic!

"I just did what I was asked to. Since I was comfortable doing it and didn't find anything objectionable or uncomfortable, I continued doing so..." Like the Sexy, sexy number from Khuddar, A aa ee and Sarkhailo khatiya from Raja Babu.

"I just felt there was nothing wrong in the words, 'Sexy, sexy'. So I danced to that song. People did not object to my dance but the song. Finally the words were replaced with 'Baby, baby'.

Whatever she might say now, she was surprised by flak she received, and realising she'd gone wrong somewhere, reviewed her image.

"I started signing films properly. But I still had a few films which I had signed on with newcomers six years ago. They kept popping out of the cans and coming up for release time and again." These embarrassments kept doing her damage, reminding her regularly of past professional follies.

"But anyone in my place would have done the same thing," she says, tension written all over that pretty face. And these people who lambasted her are now claiming she's replacing Madhuri as No 1, she says mutinously.

"The entire No 1 game is cooked up by the media. They make and break the No 1. They put a person in the limelight and try and hunt the person down... As for Madhuri, she is simply great. When I was young, I was a big fan of hers. She is a wonderful performer. She acts, well, she dances well and she carries herself very well. I still say I'm a big fan of Madhuri. She has been my idol from the very beginning and she will remain so." And sucks to anyone who thinks different.

But still, could she deny that numbers do make a difference, making those at the top look bigger and those going off, terrible?

With Akshay Kumar. Click for bigger pic!

"I've just had a few hits. Some are even comparing me with Amitabh because of the number of jubilees I'm getting. It's a nice feeling to be considered good, but it just takes a Friday a change things.

"Every Friday, we can have a new number one, if the media decides to have its way. Nothing is permanent here..."

Okay, that settled, what about the number of actors she's been linked with, including Abhishek Bachchan?

"Controversies," she says philosophically, "come along in the same package as success. The more successful you are, the more controversial you become. When I started doing a lot of films with Govinda and reeling off hit after hit, I was linked with him in every magazine. Fortunately, it did not affect our relationship. We became much better friends. I do not want to stoop to clarifying everything. I would be wasting my time. The media will write what they want to. Meanwhile, I look forward to spending some time with my family." Thus, neatly sidestepping that query about the Bachchan boy whom she was seen with at a party.

"Oh, I just go out with my friends. I am not someone who parties at night. I like to be out in the evenings on a few occasions, but not regularly." And that's all you'll get out of her.

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