As a child Kareena studied at the Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu, Bombay. After finishing elementary school, she went to Welham girls' boarding school in Dehra Dun. Then she went to Harvard for three months to do a course in Information Technology and Microcomputers. Back in India, she joined the Government Law College in Bombay to stdy law. But decided to drop out after a year, to learn acting at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting School.
Kareena’s first-signed film was Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Na…Pyaar Hai opposite Hrithik Roshan. But she dropped out of it after shooting for a few days . She was then launched along opposite Abhishek Bachchan in a big way in JP Datta’s Refugee. Though the film didn’t do well, Kareena’s work and presence won rave reviews. She was likened to the heroines of the golden era like Meena Kumari and Madhubala. Interestingly, in Refugee, she had dared to appear without make up!
Her second release, Satish Kaushik's Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai (2001) opposite Tusshar Kapoor, was a major hit. However, the next few films like Subhash Ghai’s Yaadein (2001) and Shah Rukh Khan’s Asoka (2001) did not do well at the box office in spite of the big hype. But in both her effortless performances, especially in the role of a princess in Asoka, were appreciated. Asoka got her her first Filmfare nomination for Best Actress. Later that year, she starred in Abbas Mustan's thriller Ajnabee (2001), which dealt with the theme of wife swapping. But the film didn’t do as well as expected at the box-office.
Kareena’s next film was Karan Johar’s multi-starrer Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001), which went on to become a huge hit in india and abroad. In the loud, flamboyant role of a stereo-typical rich, high society brat she was impeccable.
After K3G, Kareena was in great demand. But none of her films that followed did well enough to make her a 'saleable star'. Yash Raj’s Mujhse Dosti Karoge (2002) directed by Kunal Kohli costarring Hrithik Roshan and Rani Mukherjee, was a failure at the box-office. Sooraj Barjatiya’s Main Prem Ki Diwani (2003) with Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan didn’t do well either. Her pride was considerably salvaged by Sudhir Mishra’s 'off beat' film Chameli (2004), where she was brilliant in the deglamourized role of a call-girl. Her brilliant interpretation of the role won her several awards. She was equally good in her next film , Govind Nihlani’s Dev (2004), which dealt with the 2001 Gujarat riots. She stood up to stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan and Om Puri with ease. The same year, she played a negative role for the first time in Ken Ghosh’s Fida (2004). It was her first film with her then boy friend Shahid Kapur. She then did a comedy, Priyadarshan’s Hulchul., followed by Aitraaz (2004) where she had to contend with an emerging star, Priyanka Chopra, in a much-hyped role, but she managed to hold her own.
In spite of being consistently good on the histrionic front, Kareena’s undoing has been the failure of her films at the box-office. In 2005, which wasn’t an eventful year for her , she came up with yet another convincing performance in Dharmesh Darshan’s multi-starrer, Bewafaa (opposite Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Sushmita Sen), but once again the film took a beating at the box-office. So did 36 China Town and Chup Chup Ke both released in 2006. But the one film that brought out the best in her was Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara. In a starkly intense role she was very impressive amidst a cluster of great performers like Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Konkana Sensharma and Om Puri. In contrast, she tried to recreate the Helen spark in an item number in Farhan Akhtar’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer, Don – The Chase Begins, drawing a lot of applause.
Luck finally smiled on Kareena in 2007 with Imtiaz Ali’s Jab We Met , co-starring her now-estranged lover Shahid Kapoor, making it real big at the turnstiles.
