Kareena's new character is inspired by Kate in 'Mare of Easttown'

MUMBAI: Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor Khan is marking a new phase in her glittering career with a brace of films that she terms as "shockingly different." She shared that her character in the upcoming Hansal Mehta film was inspired in part by Hollywood star Kate Winslet's role in 'Mare of Easttown'.

She has wrapped a project that was shot in the UK under the working title 'The Buckingham Murders', directed by Hansal Mehta, reports Variety.

The diva essays a detective and mother who investigates a murder in a town in Buckinghamshire.

"I love 'Mare of Easttown' and when Hansal came to me, I said this is something that I've really been dying to do. So we've molded a little bit on those lines, she plays a detective cop in that," she told Variety.

"It's the first time that I've dabbled in that."

"I speak fluently in Hindi and I think also in Hindi because that's been what I've been doing all my life," Kapoor Khan said. "When you're thinking in Hindi, but speaking in English, it was actually a difficult task to do because it was the reverse situation for the first time."

The project, produced by Ektaa Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms and Mahana Film also marks Kareena's debut as a producer.

"I never really thought that I would be a producer. But when I heard this subject, and the fact that it's very different to a regular Hindi movie, it's a very different take to things. So I thought that will be really nice and different," Kapoor said.

"And when Ektaa and Hansal told me that 'since you love the script so much, why don't you come on board as a creative producer as well, and take some calls as to what you think also and give your name to it' - after much thought, I thought that if I love something so much, and this is a character that I wanted to play, I think it's fun to do it. It's the first time. I don't know if I'll repeatedly do it. But let's see."

Kareena has also wrapped up the Indian adaptation of Japanese author Higashino Keigo's bestselling 2005 novel 'The Devotion of Suspect X' by filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh.

The actor tags it as "dramatically different" from the Mehta project and as "dark and fun."

"For me, it's very different because obviously you're used to seeing me in all the mainstream movies, which has the song, the dance, the gloss, the glamour. Both these films are shockingly different," Kareena said.

Next up for her is Rajesh Krishnan's 'The Crew', alongside Tabu and Kriti Sanon, which commences production in March.

"'The Crew' is the film that is going to be gloss and glamour. And it's a comedy chick flick heist film. That will be the Hindi masala commercial film as compared to 'Devotion' and Hansal's film," Kareena said.

Kareena is married to actor Saif Ali Khan and is a mother of two boys.

How does she manage to balance her personal life with her career, she said: "It's literally like standing on one leg, but I'm pretty good at yoga. I'm also very lucky to have a husband who works in the same profession. We take turns as to when we have to travel," Kapoor Khan said, adding that they are blessed to have staff who supports them.

"When I was doing Hansal's film, Saif was at home with the kids, and now he's doing a film in Amritsar. And I'm at home till March. And then after that, he finishes and stays home, and then I go into 'The Crew.' It's a lot of meticulous planning, but if you're well planned, I think you can achieve it," she said.

"It's not the quantity of time that you spend with your children, that's what I've learned, in the five-six years that I've been a parent, it's the quality of time that you give them without distraction, because children want focus from their parents, from their teachers from their friends, that's what they need."