Hansal Mehta: Kareena doesn’t overthink scenes

Kareena Kapoor Khan

In October, Kareena Kapoor Khan's The Buckingham Murders premièred at the BFI London Film Festival, and was the opening film at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Praise poured in as many from the industry watched the noir thriller, with Anurag Kashyap calling it the actor's best performance to date. For director Hansal Mehta, the most memorable reaction came from his daughter Kimaya. "She came out distressed as she wanted to cry, but did not want her mascara to smudge. She was moved by it," smiles the filmmaker. "Saif [Ali Khan] liked it a lot, and we've decided to make a film together. The biggest purpose of a film is to enable your next one. That happened with Saif, who I've been trying to work with for nearly 20 years."

Mehta's hard-hitting movies are far removed from the glitzy, mainstream offerings that Kapoor usually favours. However, in an earlier interview, the director had mentioned how a scene from Dev (2003) had told him about her immense potential as an artiste. In their first collaboration, he found her to be exactly the actor he believed she was. "There are some moments where her character releases pent-up rage, followed by immediate silence. I find that so moving. Kareena's eyes have a sadness that haunts you after the film is done. I'm glad to have tapped into the reservoir of an actor, who is much celebrated, but whose potential we don't know enough of yet."

He says that Kapoor seamlessly stepped into the grim world of The Buckingham Murders, playing a troubled cop who has to crack a murder case. "Kareena spent a few days reading with the writers [Raghav Raj Kakkar, Kashyap Kapoor and Aseem Arora] and me. She had a few questions that we addressed. I tried to create an environment where she could tap into a deeper internal conflict."

By her own admission, the leading lady saw the movie as spiritually close to Kate Winslet's acclaimed series, Mare of Easttown (2021). What does Mehta think of the comparison? "I like to go unreferenced into a film, both visually and performatively. Filmmaking is a response to a moment, to the interactions with oneself and the characters around. Kareena is quick to grasp a director's process and adapt herself to it. She does not over-intellectualise or overthink scenes to the point that they become mechanical. I work in a similar manner. That's what makes working with her special."