Content Is King And That’s What Matters: Kareena Kapoor Khan On Her OTT Debut 'Jaane Jaan'

Kareena Kapoor Khan is in one of the best phases of her life — a happy family with two adorable kids, big films, massive brand endorsements, podcasts, hosting the fourth season of a star-studded show on YouTube, and now to top it all, her upcoming OTT debut. Phew! The gorgeous actress is busy and how.

While her husband, Saif Ali Khan made his OTT debut with the super hit series Sacred Games which ran for two seasons, she is finally made her debut on the same platform with Sujoy Ghosh's Jaane Jaan that also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma in pivotal roles. Saif was one of the first Bollywood stars who dived into OTT about five years ago. And in the last few years, other well-known Bollywood names have made their OTT debut too. Like Manoj Bajpayee in The Family Man, Ajay Devgn in Rudra, Raveena Tandon in Aranyak, Bobby Deol in Aashram, Emraan Hashmi in Bard Of Blood, Abhishek Bachchan in Breathe: Into The Shadows and many others.

Kareena Kapoor Khan's OTT debut

In a candid conversation, talking exclusively to Zee Zest, she tells us all about the show and her OTT debut based on a 2005 best-selling Japanese novel The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino.

“My OTT debut is with Netflix’s screen adaption of Japanese writer Keigo Higashino’s much-admired work, The Devotion of Suspect X. The project is being directed by Sujoy Ghosh. With this, I got a chance to work with Sujoy. And I also got the opportunity to work with actors like Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma. They both are such talented, lovely actors,” said the 42-year-old Bollywood star. Working with actors of Ahlawat and Varma's calibre has been transformative for her, and she was excited to be working with a filmmaker like Ghosh. “For me to be in front of the camera with these different kinds of people has been great. It’s really been a refreshing change.”

Quality content is the great leveller in Bollywood

The actress is happy that actors these days have new platforms to work on and are not restricted just to the big-screen cinema. “I think that now, with this medium of OTT coming along, everybody is like ‘Oh my god, I’m getting work. Everyone is working towards their passion; everyone is working for their love of cinema and for their love of content. I think it’s a great time for everyone.”

Kareena believes that “this profession is a great leveller” and with platforms like these, everyone gets a chance. “The main thing is that pehle superstars or stars ki chalti thi, ab content ki chalti hai. Earlier, it was the time of only superstars or stars but now it's no longer like that. Now it's only content that rules. That is what we want and that is what I love. Content is king and that is what matters,” she said.

Footwear styles of Kareena's iconic characters

Kareena, who is the brand ambassador of an all-women footwear brand, recently launched their latest Spring-Summer collection at a Bandra store in Mumbai. She told us about the kind of shoes her on-screen avatars — the much-loved characters she has played over the last 23 years of her career as a Bollywood actress — would choose when it came to footwear. Each role, whether it was Poo aka Pooja Sharma from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Geet from Jab We Met, or Pia Sahastrabuddhe from 3 Idiots, had such distinctive characteristics.

“I think each style of footwear always represents its own kind of personality. I feel Geet would surely choose a jooti, Pia trying to get into the boy’s hostel in 3 Idiots would choose a light hand-embroidered pair with a slight heel. Poo would pick up both the mismatched shoes and wear them saying, ‘Do alag alag kism ke joote. It’s couture darling, you won’t understand.’ Poo can surely carry something like this!” said Kareena.