There was a time, not too long ago, when marriage and kids meant the death of an actress’ career in the Hindi film industry. The priority to vanity was so high that actresses would usually avoid getting seen much in public, let alone, on screen in any way with their baby bump. But things changed eventually.
The vanity is still there but acceptance is there too. Now Bollywood moms don’t shy away from coming out in the public with their baby bumps; they flaunt it with pride. Maternity photoshoots have become a trend and motherhood no longer means a stop to an actress’ career. And a lot of credit for that goes to the birthday girl, Kareena Kapoor Khan.
Before Kareena, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also took a step in embracing this phase of her life publicly, but it was Kareena who made it the new normal and a trend. The actress never shied away from facing the camera. She embraced her weight gain with pride and didn’t avoid the camera at any point when she was pregnant the first time with Taimur Ali Khan.
One of the highlights during her first pregnancy was her appearance on Karan Johar’s chat show Koffee With Karan. Dressed in a black gown, Kareena made an appearance when she was in her third trimester with a considerable weight gain. But she didn’t hide it in any way and flaunt it proudly and she looked as gorgeous as ever doing that. Even when asked about it on the show, Kareena had said, “I am not making a point but doing what I want.” She faced online trolling for that as well but she was unfazed.
On the work front too, Kareena did not let motherhood take her away from the camera. Alongside being a hands-on mom to Taimur, she also played the lead in three films after his birth. She first starred in the buddy film Veere Di Wedding, where she looked as hot as ever, even alongside Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania. She followed it up with Good Newwz opposite Akshay Kumar, Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh, and last year she was seen in Irrfan Khan’s last film before his demise, Angrezi Medium.
Last year, she also got pregnant for the second time with son Jeh. This time too she was as cool as she was the first time around, even with the pandemic around. She fulfilled her work commitments by completing the shoot of Laal Singh Chadha opposite Aamir Khan before giving birth to Jeh in February this year. And now that Jeh is a bit grown up, she has already announced her next project, a thriller with Ekta Kapoor and Hansal Mehta, which will also see her turn a producer.
Throughout her career in showbiz, Kareena has made unconventional choices, set trends and become an example, be it through her work, her characters or be it through the way she has carried herself in real life. Kareena has always been an example for many and she will continue to be so for a long time to come.
Image source: SpotboyE archives, Instagram/kareenakapoorkhan