Kareena Kapoor

Kareena is the great-granddaughter of Prithviraj Kapoor, the famous actor. She is the granddaughter of actor and producer Raj Kapoor and daughter of Randhir Kapoor and actress Babita. Her great uncles are Shashi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. Her uncles are Rishi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor. Her cousins are Ranbir Kapoor and Nikhil Nanda who is married to Amitabh Bachchan's daughter, Shweta Nanda. Her sister Karisma Kapoor is also in the film industry.

She is currently dating actor-boyfriend Shahid Kapoor (they starred together in the 2004 movie Fida which did not succeed at the box office).

The first unconventional step she took was by signing Refugee immediately after rejecting Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai. Minor differences led to her walking out of the project, and wisely so, since the film did nothing for its heroine Amisha Patel. Refugee was a perfect launch for Kareena, who, with her ethereal looks managed to carve a niche for herself as a performing actress as opposed to a glamour doll.

Though her debut vehicle, Refugee, received only a lukewarm response in commercial terms, critics were unanimous in their verdict: Kareena was an actress to watch. Abhishek Bachchan, who also made his debut in Refugee, was completely overshadowed. People connected with the film desperately wanted the film to do well, but the woman in question here remains unruffled. She has nothing to fear.

What can go wrong for a natural actress like Kareena? She comes from the family of the great Prithvi Raj Kapoor who founded the first family of Indian cinema. He never knew that one day his name would be synonymous with talent and beauty and the family would be respected so much by the industry as well as non-film folk.

Her second release, Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, with the untested Tusshar Kapoor in the male lead, has got off to a rousing start at the box office, and Kareena has cornered all the accolades. It's understandable: she's so amazingly good, everything else in the film just pales in comparison. Kareena, of course, must be already accustomed to being having critical praise heaped on her.

Yash Chopra's production signed her for a film with Rani Mukherjee and Hrithik Roshan. Finally, she now has Sooraj Barjatya's next love triangle with both Hrithik and Abhishek in the lead. To balance some projects that show her in all the splendor of a Hindi film heroine, she also has Santosh Sivan's Ashoka - A Love Story, which is a historical.

With Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Subhash Ghai and now Sooraj Barjatya in her kitty, Kareena Kapoor has almost reached the top position after just one film. Unlike an Aishwarya Rai who had all the big makers backing her at one point in her career, but blew it up, Kareena Kapoor career is being monitored by the mother of all-star makers, Babita Kapoor.

The immensely talented actress has no regrets about Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. It seems director Sanjay Leela Bhansali had earlier approached Kareena for these films that she could not accept. She wanted to study law in Harvard and had no plans to do anything in Bollywood. Boston looked far more interesting. Kareena was quite unsure even about Paro's role in Devdas, but then, as everyone says, destiny has peculiar ways.

Kareena would like to be known as an actress right from her first film. She does not wish to be paid to just stand in front of the camera and look good. This surely is ambitious thinking for a 23 something actress. However, her genes speak for her.

She is coy and shy, quite unlike the off screen Kareena. As an actress, she claims to be totally different from sister Karishma. In fact, she is Lady Shah Rukh Khan. She wants everyone to love and praise her. Like him, she will collect dozens of awards, though she refuses to be content with the Best Debut Award. "Everyone gets that, I want something bigger," says she. Hopefully, destiny will support her.