Karisma Kapoor On 35 Years Of Debut Film Prem Qaidi Straight Out Of School

Karisma Kapoor has completed 35 years in the film industry today. Her debut movie, K Murali Mohana Rao’s musical drama Prem Qaidi released on June 21, 1991. Karisma was just 16 when she starred opposite Harish, who was a year younger than her. The actor can’t believe it’s been 35 years, and shares the memories of her first film with SCREEN in an exclusive interview.

“My first movie released four days before my 17th birthday. So, I was straight out of school. I went to junior college for a few days, and then I was straight on the set of Prem Qaidi. I do remember the mahurat shot also. Time has flown by really fast,” says Karisma. One of the early challenges of facing the camera in the early 1990s, she recalls, was to face the scorching light that accompanied action.

“The lighting was very harsh. We used to struggle to barely open our eyes,” adds the actor. Since then, she’s witnessed several technical changes happen in moviemaking, including the transition from film to digital and dubbing to sync-sound. In fact, she claims Shyam Benegal’s Zubeidaa (2001), which served as a memorable inflexion point in her career, was the first sync-sound film of India.

“Obviously, it was all very new. And then I realised, and I think all actors would agree, that your real performance comes out when it’s sync-sound because you’re in that moment. No matter how hard we try, we can’t get the same emotion in a dark AC room while dubbing. I think it made it all easier with all the concentration and silence,” says Karisma.

Karisma Kapoor fondly recalls working with Shyam Benegal, who passed away a couple of years ago. “Zubeidaa was such a learning experience. He’s such an amazing director, and an even more amazing human being. I think I learnt so much even about behind the camera from what he spoke to me. Whenever we’d be free between shots, I’d ask him to share stories and kissas of other actors and great actresses from other films, and he’d actually do that. It was a beautiful experience,” recalls Karisma.

She reveals that while the legendary filmmaker was initially in two minds about whether she’d want to do his film, since he came from parallel cinema while she was a mainstream icon, she was always sure. “He and my grandfather (Raj Kapoor) share the same birthday, December 14. So, I always had this strange attachment with him,” adds Karisma.

“I remember going to meet him, and he said, ‘But will you act in my movie?’ I said, ‘Sir, of course!’ I was completely honoured and grateful. He said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘No, I will, and I want to do this because at this stage of my career, this is the time I want to explore. And I said yes immediately. He was in a doubt, but it was a no-brainer for me, of course,” says the actor.

The elder daughter of yesteryear actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, Karisma Kapoor was initially supposed to make her debut with the romantic drama Barsaat opposite Bobby Deol, which also served as his launching pad. However, after the film, produced by Vijayta Films of Bobby’s father Dharmendra, kept getting delayed, Karisma opted to start her career with another movie. Barsaat, which was initially being helmed by Shekhar Kapur, was eventually directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. Twinkle Khanna made her debut opposite Bobby instead of Karisma, but the film released only in 1995, four years after Prem Qaidi.

“Actually, I was supposed to start with Karisma Kapoor. But my film’s story wasn’t getting developed. The scripting was still going on. At that point, women’s careers were such that they couldn’t work for many years. That’s changed now, thankfully. So, Karisma was a little insecure, and I don’t blame her for that. So, she decided to start her career with Prem Qaidi,” Bobby Deol told SCREEN last year.

After her debut with Prem Qaidi, Karisma Kapoor played the leading lady in memorable films like David Dhawan’s comedies Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996), Judwaa (1997), Hero No. 1 (1997), Biwi No. 1 (1999), Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999), Santoshi’s 1994 buddy comedy Andaz Apna Apna, Raj Kanwar’s 1996 action romance Jeet, Dharmesh Darshan’s 1996 romantic drama Raja Hindustani, Yash Chopra’s 1997 musical romance Dil To Pagal Hai, and Sooraj Barjatya’s 1999 family drama Hum Saath-Saath Hain.

Karisma quit acting in 2003 after tying the knot with Delhi-based businessman Sunjay Kapur. She moved back to Mumbai a few years later, and made her comeback with Vikram Bhatt’s romantic drama Dangerous Ishhq in 2012. Over the past six years, she’s made waves on streaming, starring in Ekta Kapoor’s 2020 dramedy show Mentalhood on ALTBalaji, Homi Adajania’s 2024 whodunit comedy Murder Mubarak on Netflix, and most recently, Abhinay Deo’s investigative thriller Brown on ZEE5 this year.

“The kind of person I am, I work from my heart, and not from the head. If I feel like doing something, I would. If I don’t, I’m just not interested,” says Karisma, talking about how she picks her roles now. “I’ve never taken myself seriously. I just love to act. I want to give it my best shot, and then I just leave it to my audience and fans,” she adds.