Dear Kareena,
It is with great hope that we are writing this open letter to you today. Most of us have been well- wishers since Refugee released. Although it was your very first performance, you proved to be a powerhouse of talent with an extremely promising future in the industry. You proved us and critics right, with choosing content-backed films such as Omkara, Chameli, Jab We Met, Heroine, and Talaash where you demonstrated substantial performances. You did more than justice to roles that had you dig deep into emotions, and you always projected every sentiment with sheer brilliancy.
There have been some disappointments, and although all successful careers come with hits and flops, your well-wishers have never associated poor box office numbers with poor performances. To cite an example, your intense portrayal of Avantika in Kurbaan was nothing short of spectacular.
However when looking at your filmography, it seems that film budgets and box office figures have greatly affected your career’s route and your choice to experiment with roles. It comes at the expense of your most loyal fans who wish to see you challenge yourself in tight scripts and with new directors. Although your love for Masala films is understandable, your well-wishers find it hard to content themselves with secondary roles and short screen times for the talented superstar that you are and that we support so vehemently.
While your cameos, item numbers, and secondary roles in hundred-crore moneyspinners are always met with sheer excitement by your fans, they are still very limiting when compared to your exponential potential. Since 2012, you have preferred tapping your potential by favouring those types of activities and you have rejected many good scripts. Your marriage being the reason why you decided to take a break from substantial roles since 2012 surely is understandable—however it has been hard to wait when your husband himself has, in the meantime, been the lead actor in five different films.
In addition, during Bajrangi Bhaijaan promotions, it has been widely noticed that you have solely been mentioning films like Chameli and Omkara when speaking about your lead performances. Those films were released in 2003 and 2006 respectively: it has come to a point where you and your well-wishers find it considerably difficult to speak of recent performances that are worth remembering.
Since the project was announced in 2014, your well-wishers have pinned all their hopes on Raj Kumar Gupta’s upcoming thriller Section 84. After three years of anxious waiting, we had finally gotten what we prayed for. Although your roles in Udta Punjab or R Balki’s next are bringing much-needed freshness to your filmography, the script that was brought to you by Raj Kumar Gupta held most potential because it was going to be exclusively centred around you. Additionally, Ritesh Shah, who wrote that script, told your fans that he was working extremely hard to make a script worthy of you. This only contributed to build up excitement around the project.
Your fans had never taken a step back in fifteen years of your career despite the many films you rejected. However after Raj Kumar Gupta announced that you had opted out of the film, a deafening silence has hit your fan base online. Thus this letter comes with only one purpose today, Kareena: we request that you take into account your fans’ wishes when you select roles, and that you do not solely rely on your management for this. Please do take into account that we keep you alive online and off-line, who do PR work on your behalf online and off-line, and who stand by you day and night against everything. However as well-wishers, we are also entitled to feel disappointed and let down by your decisions which do not allow us any space. We do so much for you on a daily basis, and we constantly send you so much love: as a consequence, our only request for you is that you give us some love back.
Please, do not let us down anymore, and please do re-consider Raj Kumar Gupta’s project because you care about us as much as we care about you.
Sincerely,
Your loyal fans
