So many Ks!!!!  No wonder Karan thinks they are “lucky”.  Or used to I guess, since ADHM didn’t have any.  Unless you count Ranbir.  And Fawad.  Okay, I am losing the point!  The point is, Karan plus 2 Kapoors and one Kapoor Khan.

This was a surprisingly boring episode!  Which is what made it so fascinating, that both Kareena and Sonam put not one step wrong and stayed firmly focused on their careers and the message they wanted to get across.

Right at the beginning, Karan tried to get something interesting going by bringing up all of Kareena’s previous appearances, with Rani her “friend?” and her “then boyfriend” Shahid and her “current husband” and Kareena lets each one of those goes by, just smiles and laughs and says Rani is still a friend, Shahid just gets a laugh, and her “current husband” is her once and future husband.

(I know about the her and Shahid episode, but I somehow missed that she and Saif were on together)

Karan moves on to something a little lighter, talking about how Kareena is always sending him “airport looks” and how she has a whole closet for it.  Kareena let’s that go just a little bit, so this is a theme that Karan will return to, how close he is with Kareena and so on.  My favorite part is a little comment later in the episode about how both girls have spent so much time on Karan’s couch, both on the studio and at home.  And Karan and Kareena joke about how she has really spent time on his couch!  Including meltdowns and trying to choose between two men.  WHICH MEN?????  Shahid and Saif?  But I thought Shahid was totally over before Saif started.  Was there someone else that could have been a possibility somewhere in the middle?  Or did Shahid have a change of heart and want her back?

But Kareena shuts it down when it gets to her appearance.  Even her pregnancy, Karan tries to talk about how she is making a statement by being so out and proud and visible in it, and Kareena shuts that down and says she isn’t making a statement, she is just living her life and doing what she wants.

And then the two girls move on to talking about each other, and that’s when it gets really clear what kind of episode this is going to be.  Yes they are friends, yes they have known each other all their lives.  But they like each other because Kareena is “loyal, conducts herself well”.

Actually, there is an interesting bit where Karan and Sonam both talk about what makes Kareena great to work with and impressive.  They list off that she has 16 years of experience in the industry, she is always entertaining in interviews, and she has a loyal group of friends.

Isn’t that interesting?  That these are the things they immediately think of to make her valuable.  I agree with all of them, but notice that talent, beauty, fashion sense, money, family, those aren’t on the list?  And again, I agree with that!  Kareena is a good actress, maybe a great actress.  But that’s not what makes her a “star”, what makes her a star is her experience, her media presence, and her friends in the industry.  Not her family connections, but her friendships and work connections she has built up.

(This Kareena was talented and beautiful too.  But she didn’t have the experience or the media savvy or the loyal group of friends, so the older Kareena is much more valuable)

That’s the undertone of this whole interview.  Be gender blind, acknowledge that Kareena has the same essential elements of any male star, and treat her the same way in the interview.  No gossip, no fashion, no personal questions.

And Sonam is the one who is setting this tone.  Kareena calls her her “PR”, and she’s not wrong!  Sonam leaps in and cuts off a couple of questions, and is even more rigorous about keeping the personal life off the table except for certain limited areas than Kareena is.

So what is left to talk about from my notes?  Well, there is a little bit of personal stuff.  Karan asks Sonam about her infamous Deepika episode, and she is frank that she doesn’t really know her, hasn’t seen her since that show.  Now, that’s interesting in contrast with Jacqueline and Sidharth’s episode, where it became clear that they go everywhere and know everybody.

Sonam is just in a different phase.  She’s not going to parties and trying to make connections, she is controlling her own career now.  Maybe she’s not as famous and beloved as other actresses, but she has taken a different route, choosing a slower quieter path but one she can entirely control.

They also do mention Ranbir, because how can they not?  Karan hints at Sonam and Ranbir’s past relationship and if they would ever get back together, and Sonam laughs that Kareena wants that, and “Lolo” really wants that.  I can see it, if I had a little brother, I’d probably want him to marry Sonam too.  She’s so together seeming and in control of her life, and would probably be able to control her husband too.  But generally, Sonam ducks the question, saying they are happy and are “now” friends (as in, they used to be something else).  And Kareena ducks it to, saying “whatever RK wants” is what she wants.  Huh!  After Ranbir’s appearance, where he sort of forced Karan to confirm that he’s been single and celibate for almost a year, and now Kareena saying she just wants him to be happy, I am thinking the Kat break up really did a number on him.

Speaking of men, lots of praise for Saif!  The most interesting comment, to me, was about how Saif was the “last of that era”, meaning, if I was understanding this correctly, that he was the last sort of gentlemen thinker artist.  I can see that really.  The new generation seems more like sort of pretty boy model types, rather than ambitious broad thinkers.

Maybe because the corporatization doesn’t allow for as much intellectual challenge, maybe because the globalization of the audience means the meaning of the films has to change, maybe just because the newer aristocratic generation post-liberalization would rather go into business or immigrate abroad rather than go into film in India.  Or maybe it’s just that Saif has lasted so long.  That once you reach that stage, you are interested in bigger thoughts and bigger things than just trying to charm and work your way into the industry.  10 years from now, whoever is left of our current batch may be the same way.

(I was gonna make a joke about “can you imagine Varun sitting at home with a good book ten years from now, thinking about being a better artist?”  But actually, I can totally imagine that!  Give him time to settle down and get over his crazy youthful energy, and he could easily start to live more of a life of the mind)

Hmm, let’s see?  What else?  No games at all this episode, and the rapid fire was pretty slow too.  Possibly because Kareena was heavily pregnant.  Her face looked amazing, by the way.  Expressive and magnetic and just joyful.  But she also kept making little faces, I am pretty sure just sitting there was uncomfortable for her.  I can’t imagine her jumping around like Karan likes to make people do on the Koffee Kwiz.

Instead of a game, Karan had Arjun come out.  Just to be there, no game involved.  It was really sweet seeing him with both girls.  They both wrapped around him immediately, and Sonam stayed holding on to him the whole time he was there.  Arjun just looks like such a teddy bear, I can see why they wanted to hold him.

But they did have a little fun thing when Karan played clips from their old episodes.  My favorite part is when Kareena saw her first appearance on the show and immediately commented on her purse and how fat she looked.  I only liked that because I had just re-watched that episode with a friend, and we also immediately commented on how much heavier Kareena was back in the day and why in the world she was carrying a purse onto a talk show.

 

I think it is around this time, talking about their past appearances, that Sonam explains she isn’t talking about fashion or gossip or other actresses or any of that, because when you say those things, your point gets “drowned out”.  Which is what we have been seeing through out this episode.  Or rather, not seeing.  They will talk about their philosophy and their roles and what they admire in each other.  But nothing else at all.

Oh!  One more thing!  Bewafaa!  During the rapid fire, that was Sonam’s choice for Kareena’s worst role.  Which, she pointed out, Kareena did with Anil and then later played Arjun’s wife, hitting both generations.  And also, yes, Sonam is correct, I would agree that is probably the worst movie Kareena has been in.