A year ago, after 12-month hiatus, post a National Award winning performance in a super successful Dil To Pagal Hai, when Karisma’s solo starrer Silsila Hai Pyar Ka open miserably to empty houses, a small section of the media got the peg they were waiting for to run her achievements down. In their hasty eagerness to declare her kaput, they jump the gun. For no sooner had they written her professional obituary, Karisma won her spurs in not one, not two, but three: Biwi No 1, Haseena Maan Jayegi and Hum Saath Saath Hain.
Karisma’s reaction when the vicious critics spewed venom at her? Total silence! She simply didn’t react. Instead she let her actions speak. And speak they did, louder than words. For, once more (after Raja Hindustani and Dil To Pagal Hai), Karisma multi-faceted talent was display in all its splendor in these diverse extravaganzas. Whether it was the urban, betrayed wife in Biwi No 1, a young, modern hip-hop girl in Haseena Maan Jayegi or the demure, disciplined, traditional village rooted in joint family values, Karisma was in full bloom, in total control in all these films. And with it, she made her critics eat humble pie! “I always believed that silence speak volumes,” exclaim Karisma with conviction. “Even if something erroneous is said about you, I think its better to be quiet because eventually the truth will always be out.”
Karisma’s reaction when the vicious critics spewed venom at her? Total silence! She simply didn’t react. Instead she let her actions speak. And speak they did, louder than words. For, once more (after Raja Hindustani and Dil To Pagal Hai), Karisma multi-faceted talent was display in all its splendor in these diverse extravaganzas. Whether it was the urban, betrayed wife in Biwi No 1, a young, modern hip-hop girl in Haseena Maan Jayegi or the demure, disciplined, traditional village rooted in joint family values, Karisma was in full bloom, in total control in all these films. And with it, she made her critics eat humble pie! “I always believed that silence speak volumes,” exclaim Karisma with conviction. “Even if something erroneous is said about you, I think its better to be quiet because eventually the truth will always be out.”
I always believed that silence speak volumes.
Karisma’s conquests have not be effortless. Let’s give the devil (if we must call her that) her due. It’s not good luck at work either, as many would like to attribute her well deserved success to. It’s hard to detect good luck, actually. Especially in Karisma’s case, because it’s so much like something she’s earned. After years of extreme hard work, polishing of those rough edges, after taming the wild brashness of youth, Karisma is today enjoying the fruits of labour. Without bragging about it, without any trace of superiority of arrogance, or without making a mockery of it.
If I were to describe Karisma Kapoor in a nutshell, I’d say she’s like a coconut – tough from outside, soft from inside. She is a fire-ball, constantly thinking on her feet of ways and means to better herself on screen, constantly burning with desire to stretch her limits rather than rest on her past laurels. Karisma is introspective, intelligent and instinctive too. For instance, Biwi No 1, claims the Heroine No 1, was a film that she was instinctively bullish about right from the word ‘GO’. Affirms Karisma proudly but demurely, “I was always sure that it would be a sure-fire hit. I was confident that the ladies amongst the audience would identify with my character. There are so many women in India facing a similar situation – with cute little children, and trying to get their husbands back. So watching me do that role with conviction, surely inspired many women to say that if I could win my husband back, so could they. And yet, Biwi No 1 was a light-hearted film and fun to watch.”
Even if something erroneous is said about you, I think its better to be quiet because eventually the truth will always be out.
The point is that Karisma‘s strength is her ability and willingness to move along with the times. She soon realized that she was no longer a newcomer teenybopper who could get away with doing the same mundane stuff she did when she started out with predictable regularity. Heck, as human beings we have to grow, you know, not regress! “I feel that when you are young, you do tend to sign every film that comes your way,” explains Karisma thoughtfully. “The logic is, it’s got a good hero, a good director, so let’s do it. But sooner or later, you realize that there is no point in running around, doing anything and everything that comes your way. Even if you do two quality films with significant roles, they will be appreciated a lot more than the run-of-the mill films.”
A street-smart Karisma learnt this crucial key to success during that whole phase when she ventured into uncharted waters by doing films like Jeet, Raja Hindustani, even Hero No 1. While acting in these films, she noticed subtle shades and nuances in her screen character that was hitherto missing in her earlier films. Once these films released, the masses liked what they saw of Karisma. Bingo! Karisma hit bull’s eye when she found a discerning audience put a stamp of approval on those films. They even sang hosannas to her! “That’s when I realized that one must strike the right balance between quality and commercial films.” Recalls Karisma.
I feel that when you are young, you do tend to sign every film that comes your way.
Perseverance is not a long race, its is many short races one after another. Karisma’s sincere efforts to outshine her colleagues also pushed her into giving her entire appearance on screen a closer microscopic look. So, out went the on-line, machine-manufactured ‘Barbie’ look, and in came the customized, more human , the more ‘Karisma’ look. Needless to say, it paid off. Corroborates Karisma, “I think my true personality has evolved today. If you saw me in my initial films, I looked lost. I had to be overdressed because I worked with people much older than me. But now I think I have come into my own. Now it’s my personality that appears on screen and yes, now I do appear more polished in every aspect.
Karisma could do it because she thought she could. So she broke out of her cacooned existence and went headlong into films that, on the face of it, may have seemed wrong. The most unconventional, unheard thing at that time was to play second fiddle to another heroine. Throwing caution to the wind, Karisma took up the gauntlet that many an actress (Juhi, Urmila to name just two) refused to take up in Dil To Pagal Hai. Results? Once again she struck gold. Karisma won wide acclaim, even a National Award for her staged bravado. Having tasted blood once, there was no stopping her when she smelt a good opportunity in Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath Saath Hain. She took to it like a fish takes to water! Yet again, it was Karisma who swam safely to the shires of victory. “In this profession, success is also about taking risks,” explains Karisma. “Like, if I had turned down Hum Saath Saath Hain, on the grounds that I wanted to be a solo heroine, I would have been the loser. Today, I feel one should take risk’s in one’s career. Sometimes it’s right not to be so right, you know. To be right all the times, is a very conventional thing. It’s good to do unconventional things as well.”
Sometimes it’s right not to be so right, you know. To be right all the times, is a very conventional thing.
Karisma’s instinctive feel for success and her constant need to be creative allowed her to open a new, more challenging chapter in her profession where she rewrote her version of what success could very well mean. That it’s not important to be the central character in every single film that one does. “It doesn’t work all the time” explains an older and wiser Karisma knowledgeably. “It’s teamwork that finally matters. A fact, which many tend to forget or ignore once they become successful. Their thing is, ‘No, no, I should have the main role, and I must be focus of attention.’ I don’t think that’s right. It’s a misconception. Instead, strike the right balance, do the right thing. I think, when you are sure of your abilities, and confident of yourself what you are capable of doing, it’s perfectly alright as I said, not to be so right.” The only limits are, as always, those of vision. Karisma had set no limits whatsoever on herself. When she started out, she saw for herself a place in the sun. But she didn’t realize that if she wanted a place in the sun, she’d have to put up with a few blisters. Sadly for her, she faced more than her fair share of traumas and troubles.
A price she had to pay for being a Kapoor kid? Frankly, yes. No one was made to walk on burning coals of slights and humiliations, ridicule and rebuke the way she was. “To be honest, I didn’t know the first two year was happening to me,” reveals Karisma with that characteristic vulnerable look in her eyes. “That was a very difficult period for me because people used to pull me down. I didn’t know how to face all that. If I should admit it today, I used to literally cry myself to sleep every single night.” The nastiest piece of work done on Karisma during that time was the critical onslaught that was unleashed upon her doing the sexy-sexy song-dance number.
If I should admit it today, I used to literally cry myself to sleep every single night.
“I was just 18 years old that time,” argues Karisma agitatedly, “trying to be sincere to my profession. But people just took it in the wrong way. Even though there were songs worse than that one, the whole episode traumatized me. That was a bad phase for me.” Luckily for Karisma, a hugely successful career soon after put an end to all her trials and tribulations. After all, nothing succeeds like success, add to it a generous garnish of personal maturity and wisdom, grace and poise, and voila, a whole new Karisma is born! Actually it was success that change Karisma.
She becomes more open and giving. As a result, her initial self-centredness gave way to a sense of matured understanding of her co-stars. She began to perceive them for what they were rather than what she expected them to be. “Success taught me to be a lot more patient,” reveals Karisma with a sense of maturity that’s become her identification today. “you have to understand, our profession has weird hours; there’s so much going on, so much stress, tension, somebody’s having some problem, somebody’s not feeling well, somebody’s feeling hot or itchy…Anything could happen to anybody. Soon you have to learn to understand the other person’s frame of mind or psyche, which I have learnt to do over the years.”
You have to understand, our profession has weird hours; there’s so much going on, so much stress, tension, somebody’s having some problem...
“Earlier own my reaction used to be, ‘Oh God, why is so and so person not being friendly to me like he was the day before yesterday?’ when that person, in reality, has something or the other going on in his head! The same thing happen to me too. People sometimes tell me, ‘Oh, at times we feel you are so distant’. But the thing is, and I’ve realized only recently, that everybody needs to have a little bit of private time on their own. Having realized this, I’ve begun to understand people better, I’ve begun to take everything with a pinch of salts. Like a true-blue moody and sensitive Cancerian, I used to get very touchy about the most flippant of things. I’ve learnt to ease out on all of that now. You see you have to learn to give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Why so often I have said so many things, which I have not really meant the way they appear to come across. I guess, I have just grown up, you know.”
Luckily for Karisma , the process of growing up happened at the same time as success happened to her. Which means, one of the things she learnt to do rather tactfully was to stay out of controversies. In fact, the world controversy just does not exist in her dictionary any more. It’s much a taboo topic for her as re-building Ram Temple in Ayodhya is currently for the ruling BJP at the center. But that hardly means that, afraid of stirring a hornet’s nest in the eyes of a prejudice media, Karisma will toe the line for anything and everything. That’s not like it at all either. For instance, when Karisma, in her wisdom, realized that her screen pairing with Govinda was becoming stale and jaded due to overexposure, without playing the cat-and-mouse game, or giving him and their producers a wild goose chase, Karisma, very commen tactfully, with utmost grace and poise, got her point across to Govinda in the way she knew best-straight from the hip. Karisma’s point was driven home to her Hero No 1. Hard hitting may it seemed to Govinda at first, but a practical decision paid off when Haseena Maan Jayegi opened to bumper houses! “This way, at least people enjoyed our dances, we will be remember longer,” state a vindicated Karisma calmly. Interestingly, the added bonus for Karisma was that she got to eat her cake and keep it too.
But the thing is, and I’ve realized only recently, that everybody needs to have a little bit of private time on their own.
Today her friendship with Govinda is intact! Something that she would not have been able to achieve was the situation to rise in her younger, more brashful days. Was it maturity? Sure it was. Being successful also helped Karisma a great deal. It tempered haste with patient; anxiety with tact. Another aftermath of success? Karisma has learned not only to nurture her friendships with industrywalls but she has also managed to, quite successfully, rebuild bridges with people she had fallen out with in her earlier naïve years. For one, Akshay Kumar is no longer the pet peeve he used to be during those God-awful Barood days. And two, Raveena is no more the thorn in the flesh she was pre, during and post Andaz Apna Apna. Today, the three may not be as thick as thieves but they are most definitely civil and cordial with each other. Proof of the pudding is in eating it. Karisma has had a smooth spell working with Akshay in Jaanwar, and the trio gave a good account of themselves on the series of stage shows they went together last year. “We’ve all grown up now,” explains a matured Karisma. “A lot of the times though, the discords are created by the media and are then fought forever. Somewhere we’ve put a stop to all this. We have all moved on in our lives, in our respective niche. Also, I think I have opened up a lot more. Today I feel a lot more at ease.”
Actually Karisma does not regret or rue any sacrifices she has made to reach the wining post. Not even the rare sacrifice of giving personal relationship (read that as romantic association) a back seat to professional pursuits. So, while Raveenas and the Manishas flitted in and out of relationships and the Kajols even tied the martial knots, Karisma deuced every romantic fire that even dare to kindle any sort of passionate thoughts in her. That’s the price she is willing to pay for success. But, like I said ot was no big deal for her. A question of mind over male? You bet. “I’ll tell you,” Karisma begins to explain patiently. “I felt that when I am doing something in my life, I should give it my Hundred percent best shot. So all these years I felt that if I had a relationships, one of the two would suffer-either my career or my relationship. There’s so much at stake. One, emotions-not only mine but of the other person too- and two, the financer money. I had no business to risk all that."
For me being successful is not only having a hit or a flop. It means being a successful daughter, sister, a friend; in short a successful human being.
“For me being successful is not only having a hit or a flop. It means being a successful daughter, sister, a friend; in short a successful human being. I feel there’s a time and place for everything in life. May be, that was and is my time to work. And frankly, I don’t think I missed having relationships because it’s not as if I have been out or had male friends. I think, so far I have struck the right balance. When I feel it’s time to move on, to exploit other areas of life, I’ll do so.”
That’s just it. Karisma knows that life is like a wheel, constantly moving. She also knows that the moment of victory is far too short to live for that only thing and nothing else. “I am not an actress who lives in an ivory tower,” philosophies Karisma. “I know this (successful) phase of my life is not going to last forever. But I also know that I have done it, proved it, achieved it. Today, I want to enjoy it as much as I can. I want to cherish every moment that I have. After all, these moments have given me a sense of identity and self-worth, a sense of achievement and a bagful of memories to last me a lifetime.”
It was obvious, during the course of that Sunday evening, what Karisma meant when she cherished every bit of her success story. Passersby continually came across to the suburban school, where the shooting was on, just to have a glimpse of their favourite heroine. Teenage girls got their autographs; a young lad got her to autograph on a large Karisma poster; he even proudly displayed an album of 150 pictures of his “most favourite” and “most beautiful and talented” heroine. When pack-up was announced at mid-night, there were hoards of them collected for Karisma on the road outside. And when tired Karisma did make her graceful exit, she did not run scared to her car. She did not ignore her fans either. Instead she walked past them all, even let them have a close look at her, before she got into her car and drove off. Truly, that night I saw Karisma take success in her stride!
That’s just it. Karisma knows that life is like a wheel, constantly moving. She also knows that the moment of victory is far too short to live for that only thing and nothing else. “I am not an actress who lives in an ivory tower,” philosophies Karisma. “I know this (successful) phase of my life is not going to last forever. But I also know that I have done it, proved it, achieved it. Today, I want to enjoy it as much as I can. I want to cherish every moment that I have. After all, these moments have given me a sense of identity and self-worth, a sense of achievement and a bagful of memories to last me a lifetime.”
It was obvious, during the course of that Sunday evening, what Karisma meant when she cherished every bit of her success story. Passersby continually came across to the suburban school, where the shooting was on, just to have a glimpse of their favourite heroine. Teenage girls got their autographs; a young lad got her to autograph on a large Karisma poster; he even proudly displayed an album of 150 pictures of his “most favourite” and “most beautiful and talented” heroine. When pack-up was announced at mid-night, there were hoards of them collected for Karisma on the road outside. And when tired Karisma did make her graceful exit, she did not run scared to her car. She did not ignore her fans either. Instead she walked past them all, even let them have a close look at her, before she got into her car and drove off. Truly, that night I saw Karisma take success in her stride!
Courtesy: Showtime Magazine (January 2000), Karisma Kapoor International
Images Courtesy: Karisma Kapoor International
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