Ajooni Kohli, Kareena Kapoor Khan's character in Meghna Gulzar's upcoming crime thriller Daayra, had the actor struggling to keep her classic Bebo josh restrained.
Discussing Ajooni and the challenges that came with creating a new kind of senior female police officer, Kareena Kapoor Khan and director Meghna Gulzar opened up about the specific challenge Khan faced while playing this character, one that required her to pull back the physical energy that has defined her best performances, and the energy she is known for carrying.
Daayra stars Khan alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran, who plays DCP Raman Kumar, in a harrowing crime thriller inspired by true events. The two play cops on two ends of the same case, with DCP Raman accused of staging a fake encounter and killing a suspect, while DCP Ajooni is set on uncovering the truth behind the case.
Discussing her experience playing the role with The Hollywood Reporter India, Khan explained how the character of Ajooni demanded a kind of performance she had not navigated before. "Even in the other characters, when I've been a gritty character, I've still had physicality." With Ajooni, that was not available to her.
"Here I was feeling claustrophobic to a point that I couldn't, and I just had to do it with my eyes. It would be really exhausting, those scenes. I would go home exhausted!"
The challenge, as both Khan and Gulzar described it, was not just about tone but about the specific demands of Ajooni's scenes. The character is meant to sit across a table, asking questions, and her job is to dismantle the person in front of her without moving a limb. The constraint was intentional. "She doesn't use her brawn. She uses her brain. That's Ajooni," Gulzar said.
Getting there took some time. Gulzar spoke about Khan being a physically expressive performer by instinct, stating, "She has a lot of energy, so she is very physical with her performance." During early scenes, when Khan would be meant to sit across the table, looking unreadable, her leg would still be constantly shaking, Gulzar recounts. "I would have to remind her, 'Stop shaking.'" The director recollects it taking a day and a half before Khan's constant energy to act with her body was no longer an issue.
Khan's own description of Ajooni makes clear that neither she nor Gulzar wanted the character to be a stereotypical portrayal of a female cop. "She's (Ajooni) steely, she's confident, but she doesn't have to be like that typical toughie. Not every cop has to be like that." The version of the character they settled on is one who can be feminine and confident, yet sensitive. "It was a fine line which we had to try to bring about. We had to find that way of performing."
Produced by Junglee Pictures and Pen Studios, Daayra comes to theatres on September 18.