This Friday, the highly anticipated film Tashan, starring Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor will release in theaters. From the promos for the movie we can tell we are going to see the svelte Kareena in an entirely new avatar. She recently sat down and talked about all things Tashan. Here are some highlights from that interview.
About her role Kareena said, “My character name is Pooja Singh in the film. She is a complex character. It’s very different for a girl to play; I have never played a role like this before basically following her emotions, doing the right thing but of course very sharp at the same time. The reason she is sharp is because of the circumstances she has gone through. So whatever she does in the film has a very powerful reason behind it, so it’s a strong character.”
Adding that she chose to do the film on the strength of the character, “I think it’s a tailor made role for any actress. I think I am extremely lucky to get this role. It’s like a hero’s role, it has action, romance, song, dance everything in it besides which I think it has a lot of closeness to me, the kind of girl she is, very headstrong, knows her emotions. I love the role, I love the character, and I think it’s a great package of this huge commercial movie and being the only girl in it, I think I am extremely lucky to be getting this role.”
The interview naturally turned to working with Saif and Kareena replied, “Saif is one of the most respected actors. As an actress myself, I respect him the most as an actor, he’s one of India’s finest actors. I think he can do any role and the way he has played this role is just unbelievable. The kind of nuances he adds to his character, the way he speaks and modulates his voice I think you can just learn so much from him besides being a fun loving person. It’s so nice and warm to work with him as a co-star. I get really intrigued when I get to learn something from an actor I work with because when you are working on a set, two actors should connect, two actors should be learning things from each other and I think Saif is one actor that I have really learnt a lot from. The way he is so spontaneous, the way he makes a shot appear so natural, he makes the dialogue so natural is just unbelievable. I have never seen an actor like him before. I absolutely love working with him and I hope to do many more movies with him.”
The music for Tashan is racing up the charts and Kareena said, “I think Vishal-Shekhar have done a great job. It’s very fun and youthful; it’s keeping the script of the film in mind. I think my favourite song is ‘Challiya’. I think I am being a bit selfish because it’s my song but the way we have shot it in Greece is fantastic and I think that’s the best song according to me in the movie. After that is ‘Dil Haara’; it’s a song with me and Saif which is also shot in Greece, at fantastic locations and it’s a great love song, so I think I am partial towards these two. The music is great.”
About her new look for her role as Pooja, Kareena credits designer Aki Narula: “ I am really excited about the look of this film. I think words fall short to praise the kind of talent Aki has because I think as a designer he is one of the most talented designers we have. He gets into the skin of each and every character; he knows exactly what to give when and in which scene. I think he is just fantastic and what he has done for me in this movie is commendable he just changed my entire look; it is something that has never been seen before. I think the whole idea of keeping it very grunge and rugged for me has really worked because I don’t think an Indian actress has really done that on screen before. Normally, an Indian actress is always very particular about looking beautiful, looking really perfect and her hair being in place and not looking messy. But in this film we have brought a lot of sexiness for the character through the clothes, make up and the hair. We have all worked together as a team to give me a unique look. I am really excited and I think Aki has done a phenomenal job; he’s going to win a lot of accolades for this film for sure.”
Adding her favorite look was for the song Chaliya, “In my song ‘Challiya’, there is a change of 10 costumes. I would like to wear each one of them even if I go out for a dinner or a party because it’s going to take on to the youth like anything. Aki has just put a lot of things together like shoes, accessories. I love Pooja’s signature outfit – A white shirt with nice jeans and boots. I think I live in that always and I think that’s why I like those outfit’s the best.”
As Pooja, not only has Kareena changed her looks by what she wears, she also worked really hard to change her body to the new slim and fit avatar that has everyone talking, “Before this film started, I kind of knew that for this character to look different from what I have done before, I have to train really hard to change the shape of my body which I wanted to do. A lot of actresses abroad work on one film at a time, change their look for a particular film body wise people loose weight, put on weight. For Tashan, it was a conscious effort to change my body structure and work towards it. I wanted to look a bit lean because there is a lot of action in this movie and I think a lean girl doing action always looks much better. So I trained really hard for about eight to nine months and was on a strict diet regime for this film. But the lean look is only for Tashan, that’s the only way this will look different from any other film. Adi, Victor, Aki all of us sat together and thought that it would be great if I could loose weight and get into shape and the response has been phenomenal. I am actually enjoying it I have got used to it.”
She loved working with debut director Vijay Krishna Acharya aka Victor and praised not only his writing but his way of working with the actors, “Victor is a fantastic writer. The way he writes is unbelievable and I think to be a great director you need to be a great writer. The greatest of directors are fantastic writers. The way Victor has etched this film, written the dialogues, and written the entire screenplay is just great. He knows the pulse of the audiences and what gets them. Apart from making such a huge commercial film, he’s made it very real, he wants his characters, his actors, the ambience around him to be very real which I think is great about Victor. I love that because I think the more real it is, the more you can connect with the audiences. So I love that quality in Victor. I think he gives his actors a lot of space, of course, he tells them what he needs, what he wants, and then he lets the actor flow. He is very open minded which I think is great.”
Adding, “I have worked with a lot of directors but thinking that this is Victor’s first film you cannot believe it, he’s like a seasoned director. He is one director to really watch out for. I would like to work with him again; I had the time of my life shooting this film. Besides being a wonderful director he is a wonderful human being and I hope this film is a huge blockbuster for Victor because he is really great.”
Kareena and her co-stars truly loved working on Tashan and she shared some memories about filming, “It is a truly special film. Shooting in Ladakh, Greece and Jaisalmer had been an experience that each of us would cherish. Each day, each moment is unforgettable; the kind of passion, dedication that we have put in this film cannot be easily forgotten. We have shot a song called ‘Dil Dance Maare’ in Ladakh, we (Akshay, Saif & me) had to dance on a stony path. I was wearing heels which were about 4 inches and I had to dance wearing this really short dress. I think the way we shot that song was the most memorable experience for me because the song was great and we enjoyed doing it so much. Ladakh was heavy terrain it was tough to shoot but like I said, when you are working with a family, when you are doing great scenes, saying some great lines, you are enjoying your work so much that nothing seems tough anymore. The oxygen level was low in Ladakh, so it was tough but we still use to train, that is the dedication Akshay, Saif and I had, because we love the film, Tashan.”
Finally, her tashan (style)? “ My Tashan lies in the way I am, my attitude towards life, towards work, towards people. I think Tashan basically means attitude for me.”
Be sure to check out Kareena and the rest of the cast when the action packed Tashan opens in theaters on April 25th!
