No bikinis for Kareena

The only thing worth remembering in Tashan (2008) was Kareena Kapoor sizzling in a bikini but she is still not comfortable with the ‘sexy’ tag. The actor admits that she was definitely embarrassed recently during a shoot of Bodyguard on a college campus, when some young girls sent her notes saying they found her sexy. She prefers being called glamorous and says being glam comes naturally to her.

Thin is ‘in’ but the actor, who made size zero famous three years ago, would rather be vulnerable and voluptuous now. “I’m still slim but no longer stick-thin and that works better for me. Let the other heroines lose weight now since I’ve decided I’m not going to be wearing a bikini on screen ever again,” insists Kapoor, who has been voted Bollywood’s sexiest heroine by a leading film glossy, owned by media baron Nari Hira.

The focus today is on performance-driven roles and her look will be differently sensual in the five films she is currently juggling. In RA.One, she’s Shah Rukh Khan’s sexy wife. “Very Punjabi,” she laughs. Agent Vinod’s mystery miss also doesn’t shed clothes. “Her sex appeal lies in her eyes,” says Kapoor. Bodyguard’s Divya is “innocently sexy” and Short Term Shaadi’s Tiara “crazily sexy”. As for the Aamir Khan thriller, she can’t talk about that at all.

Kapoor, who had to bring in Valentine’s Day a day early because beau Saif Ali Khan flew back to Bhopal to play a scheduled caste professor in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan based on the thorny reservation policy, admits that Khan finds her kajal-streaked eyes and spiky-heeled stilettos hot. “The kohl I wear often since it lights up my eyes and after Qurbaan (2009), 3 Idiots (2009) and Golmaal 3 (2010), has come to be associated with me. But the stilettos are only for holidays. For every day wear, it’s track pants and chappals, and Saif has no choice but to accept it,” she chuckles.

Buzz is that she may be roped in to play a character modelled on Mandakini in the sequel to Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. The actor says that if she likes it, she will take it up as a challenge. “It was one of last year’s best films after 3 Idiots but I haven’t got any offer yet. Tusshar (producer Ekta Kapoor’s actor-brother) is my best friend but we don’t talk shop,” she says, adding that Mandakini became a sex symbol after the famous waterfall scene in her grandfather Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili (’85). “But I don’t think the role, if it develops, will be along those lines.”