Kareena to go on global shopping expedition

Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) Having been designated a style icon, Kareena Kapoor now intends to go on a long shopping binge in various fashion capitals and also cut her hair.

"I have to...I've no choice. I'm looked at as a fashion statement. Very tiring, but flattering. Dress designer Aki Narula has set impossible standards of fashion for me through my films. Now I've no choice but to live up to those standards. I've raised the bar for fashion," Kareena told IANS.

"After 'Kambakkht Ishq', in 'Qurbaan' Aki has again made me look so special," added the actress who gives the credit for her 'Kambakkht..." look to Aki.

"He went shopping for my clothes and accessories. This may be a film, but I've never worked harder. In terms of styling and body language even dance and drama, I really worked hard. I wanted it to be a 'phataka' kind of role. I wanted the audience to come out breathless," said Kareena, who may soon be off on a shopping expedition to fashion hubs such as Milan, Paris, London and New York.

"It becomes tiring for everything I wear to be in the media glare. I constantly need to be well-dressed. It's a price I've to pay, in more ways than one. I don't have a choice but to have my wardrobe filled with choices.

"Nowadays when I go abroad, I find myself spending more time in shops than holidaying. It's a responsibility. And I do need to be chic all the time. But my being a fashion icon also depends on my attitude and mood of the moment," said the actress.

Asked if has she shifted loyalties from dress designer Manish Malhotra to Aki, she said: "No. I love Aki's work and plan to use his clothes very often. But Manish and I go back a long way. He dressed up my sister to stardom and then me. We're not the kind of people who move on in our friendships.

"I'm back with Manish Malhotra in '3 Idiots' and the remake of 'Stepmom'. I'll be dressed up as a stylish young girl. I'm planning to cut my hair. I'm really proud to be called stylish. I like that," said the actress.

The selection of clothes and designer depends upon the roles, says Kareena.

"In 'Jab We Met', I was simply dressed in salwar-kameez. In my forthcoming films 'Qurbaan' and '3 Idiots', I'm minimalist in my clothes.

"But 'Kambakkht Ishq' was about beautiful surfaces and shallow people. I had to dress immaculately. The standards for a heroine's look and styling had to be raised. In terms of clothes, hair and makeup we've done that in 'Kambakkht Ishq'. The fact is, I wanted to look very different. I wanted to look larger than life," she said.

But the actress says she is equally comfortable playing a girl next door like she did in "Omkara".

"If I can carry off Kolhapuri chappals in 'Omkara', I'm equally at home in Jimmy Choos in 'Kambakkht Ishq'. I'm equally proud of both kind of films. Madhuri (Dixit) did a 'Mrityudand' and a 'Choli ke peeche' (in 'Khalnayak') side by side. Look at the film actors like Madhuri, my sister Karisma, Saif Ali Khan and Akshay did in the 1990s. And look where they got! I guess I was lucky."

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Kambakkht Ishq