Jun 05, 2026 11:10am IST
Karisma Kapoor on Playing Messy, Raw Characters: ‘We’re Finally Showing Complete Human Beings’
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The actor is super selective about the projects she takes on, and eventually agreed to hear the script, after persistent requests from the creative team. “Once I heard the character, I just couldn’t say no. She’s a woman who’s literally broken. She’s raw and vulnerable, but she also has beautiful shades.” Kapoor describes herself as very different from Rita, making the role even more appealing.
She says the makers were committed to presenting Rita without glamor. “It was very clear what director Abhinay (Deo) wanted me to portray. From her body language to the way she looks without makeup, right down to her lips turning purple from smoking too much, everything was carefully thought out.”
She agrees there is a broader shift in storytelling, both internationally and in India, where female characters are far more layered than they used to be. “Not only is there a global shift, but we’re finally showing complete human beings. We’re not showing just one aspect of a person. We’re showing what somebody can actually go through and whether they survive that or not.”
Karisma’s filmography includes a large number of mass entertainers like “Biwi No. 1,” “Raja Hindustani” and “Hero No. 1,” but she balanced those with strong roles in “Fiza,” “Zubeidaa” and “Shakti: The Power.” For her, the rise of morally complex female protagonists marks an exciting phase. She shares, “I think it’s a great time in filmmaking and cinema when such interesting characters are being written. They’re roles that female actors can really sink their teeth into and enjoy because they’re allowed to be totally human.”
The “Dil To Pagal Hai” actress, however, doesn’t buy the narrative that stronger characters are written for female actors today. “We cannot say that there haven’t been strong characters in Hindi cinema. I would say from Mother India to now, there have been so many. Each generation, each decade has had certain very strong characters. Maybe we are seeing a very different human side today, which we can explore on OTT platforms today,” she says.
She adds, “Even if you take me for example, there was Fiza, a girl, a determined girl looking for her brother, the loved brother and sister. Or even if you see a film like Biwi No. 1, which is in a fun space. These all have been determined women in their own way. Shakti, for that matter. She was a woman fighting to get her child back or Zubeidaa, which would be called a biopic. It was made back then in the 2000s.”
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