Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor has come a long way from her debut in “Refuge” to become one of the greatest stars of this generation with a talent that is almost hereditary coming from one of the most renowned families of the Indian film industry. Whether it is the role of the glamorous “Poo” in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham or the simple girl in Refugee, she has surpassed every role with her immense flexibility to adapt herself to the character she is portraying. She has proved her worth again and again and with her good looks, sex appeal and acting skills, the girl has a long career ahead of her, as a successful actress.

In yet another show of her talent, Kareena Kapoor as Avantika in the film Kurbaan, has given a memorable performance. Directed by Renzil D’Silva and produced by Karan Johar, Kurbaan deals with a very strong subject, terrorism and religion. These are very sensitive issues, especially when it revolves around the Muslim community and a fundamentalist group that is involved in terrorist activities. 9/11 has given a lot to work on and we have seen not one or two but several films that have used this subject to make their films and we have already seen plenty of examples to know the similarity.

Ehsaan Ali (Saif Ali Khan) joins as a professor in a university in Delhi where Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) is already teaching and like Bollywood style they meet and squabble. As an apology, Ehsaan asks Avantika to go out with him for a cup of coffee and the coffee date continues until Avantika gets the job she had applied for in New York. Not ready to be separated from his lady love, Ehsaan asks for her hand and although Avantika’s father is reluctant to a Hindu-Muslim union, he agrees to the marriage seeing that his daughter’s interest lies in Ehsaan. Ehsaan moves to New York along with Avantika and easily finds himself a job at the same university as his wife.

Kareena Kapoor

They move into a peaceful neighborhood, except for a strange Muslim family that lives across the street from the couple. Bhai Saab (Om Puri) is the patriarchal figure and a staunch fundamentalist from whom the three young men of the family take orders. Appa (Kirron Kher) is the matriarchal figure while the three demure daughters-in law, speak little and are only visible while serving meals to the family at the table. Avantika does not notice anything strange about them until the youngest daughter-in-law (Nauheed Cyrusi) quietly slinks to Avantika and tells her that her life is in danger and that her husband might kill her.

Avantika gets curious when she finds Nauheed missing and going against Ehsaan’s warning not to interfere with other’s affairs, she stumbles upon a big terrorist attack being planned in the neighbor’s backyard. She also discovers the body of the missing girl and this is when her troubles begin with shocking revelations and terrible heartbreaks. Avantika becomes a victim of a huge terrorist master plan and amidst all this; there is Vivek Oberoi who joins the terrorist team as an undercover agent to help FBI get hold of these attackers, who were also responsible for bombing his lady love. The film ends dramatically in a shootout in the tube.

Kareena Kapoor as Avantika has given a great performance and although the film shares a storyline with films like “New York”, it is not all that painful sitting out the three hour movie.