Karisma Kapoor: Survivor & a winner

There's no one quite like her in the film industry today. She's a fourth generation Kapoor to be in films and one of the first women in her family to take to acting - she broke the unsaid rule of no Kapoor girl working under the arclights. From a gauche, awkward teen who was lambasted for her style or the lack of it, thick eyebrows, clothes and poor acting, Karisma fought back with sheer grit to become a top star with several hits to her credit.  (SEE SPECIAL)

A powerful actor, she's an enduring style icon at 36. Her personal life has played out in full public glare - from her break-up with Abhishek Bachchan in a haze of ugly rumours, to her volatile marriage to industrialist Sanjay Kapur, plagued by rumours of infidelity and abuse. She has taken it all in her stride with rare emotional maturity. Today she's a happy mother of two and a proud home manager. Calm but still wanting to do more, she's coming back to films with Vikram Bhatt's Dangerous Ishq.

When I meet Karisma, I'm struck by how engaging she is in real life. She smiles directly at you and gives you all her attention. The actor looks surprisingly different from her onscreen persona. All set for her comeback, Karisma says, 'I am fortunate that I've had great roles in my career - women-oriented title roles, mainstream... However, I haven't done a role like this before. Dangerous Ishq deals with past-life regression. It's a murder thriller and is going to be made in 3D. It spans different eras in mythology.'

The journey so far
Karisma has come a long way since Prem Qaidi, her first movie, released in 1991. She has to her credit big hits such as Raja Hindustani ('96), Dil To Pagal Hai ('97), Biwi No 1 ('99) and Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (2000). Fiza (2000), Zubeidaa ('01) and Shakti: The Power ('02) weren't commercial successes but her performances stood out in these films. 'I think my journey has been phenomenal,' says Karisma. 'I've grown up in this industry. My first movie released after my 16th birthday - I was out of school, and moved to the sets. That was my birthday gift - my movie's release! It's been a journey where every step has gone up the ladder, and I've been fortunate that I have had such great roles.'

She left Bollywood at the peak of her career. Was it a difficult decision? 'It was easy. I had worked so hard in my life for everything, from such a young age that I knew it was time for me to settle down, have children, a family. I didn't want to be too old when I came around to doing that. It was a decision I fell easily into.' Karisma says that before

she actually started "taking it easy", she didn't know that she was a homebody, someone who can be happy without wanting to prove something. 'I was so tired of working. I welcomed the idea of just doing nothing, really. Like a sabbatical. I was still working after marriage, but after the baby, she became my life. I was very happy, in fact. It wasn't difficult like it can be. For some celebrities to accept, "Oh my god! I am not the same person!" and to feel satisfied is difficult. But I'm happy just being home with my children. Nothing is more important to me.'