I take my youth icon role seriously: Kareena Kapoor

After the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the makers that Heroine will not carry a text warning in the smoking scenes — which was what the Censor Board had asked for — Kareena breaks her silence over the issue.

As the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire. But in actor Kareena Kapoor’s case, all we can see is a big cloud of smoke. Over the past week, the actor has been constantly making headlines thanks to her controversial smoking scenes in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine.

And now, after the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of the makers, which means the film will not carry a text warning in the smoking scenes — which was what the Censor Board had asked for — Kareena breaks her silence over the issue. The actor insists that the film, or its makers “are not trying to encourage” smoking.

“I take my role as a youth icon seriously. The script required the character (of film star Mahi Khanna) to behave in a certain way, but she is nothing like me in real life. As an actor, it is my job to essay various roles, but as soon as my director yells ‘cut’, I’m back to being Kareena Kapoor. I understand the responsibility that comes with being a role model,” insists the actor.

She adds, “My producers and director have ensured that all the required warning notifications have been included in the film.”

The censor board was apparently not pleased with the 35-37 frames that featured the actor smoking. So the makers were asked to run an anti-smoking ticker in each of the scenes. This is when the producers appealed to the High Court.

Even though they don’t have to run the warning during the scene anymore, the anti-smoking warning at the beginning of the film and during the intermission are still in Kareena’s voice. The actor is believed to have recorded the message already.