Her star has always shone bright. But Kareena Kapoor Khan does not mince words when she says superstardom comes with its own pitfalls. "That [her stardom] has overshadowed the actor that I am," she begins, when we sit down to chat with her in the living room of her Bandra apartment, which is adorned with gorgeous pictures of husband Saif Ali Khan and her vacationing in Gstaad.

To make her case, the actor points out how she, at 22, had sid on Chameli (2003) when women-led films were few and far between. But her career risks are often forgotten amidst the hero-led box-office blockbusters that she has been part of. "I started the trend of headlining films long ago. People are talking about it now because there is more focus on women's voice in Bollywood. Many actresses would have turned down Veere Di Wedding [2018] because no one wants to talk about periods, or lack of orgasm [being grounds for] divorce. The film was path-breaking because we established that there's an alternative to bro-code."