Kareena's mujra takes place in Pakistan

The much talked-about mujra in Saif Ali Khan's Agent Vinod, featuring Kareena Kapoor, was not included just to keep audiences happy, asserts director Sriram Raghavan. "Songs should take the film forward, not exist just for entertainment. There is a sequence in Karachi, Pakistan, so I thought if we have to do a song sequence, then let it be a traditional mujra," he adds.

Unlike female actors in most international spy thrillers, Kareena has a substantial role in Agent Vinod.
The director says, “It’s not an easy character to pull off. I didn’t make her a better actor. She made the character better than what was originally conceived.”

Based on the life of a RAW agent, played by Saif, Raghavan admits this is his most challenging project yet.

“So far, I have done small-budget films, mostly shot within 50 days. For this, we shot for around a year-and-a-half at several Indian and foreign locations, dealing with different weather conditions everywhere. And since we had a multi-national cast, communication between all the actors was a bit difficult,” recalls Sriram, who is credited for directing films like Ek Hasina Thi (2004) with Saif and Johnny Gaddaar (2007) with Neil Nitin Mukesh to his credit.

Agent Vinod is set to hit theatres on March 23.

Source: Hindustan Times

Kareena sizzles in her Mujra from Agent Vinod

Kareena Kapoor is all set to revive the traditional dance form of mujra in boyfriend Saif Ali Khan's ambitious upcoming production, Agent Vinod.

The spy thriller directed by Sriram Raghavan will see Kareena perform some kathak moves in an era when the mujra is gradually fading from the Bollywood screen.

"The dance is a classic mujra, which we haven't seen in Hindi films for a long time. We had to decide between a regular item dance featuring Kareena or some other star, or do something really hot. Most Hindi films today have item songs, with the term 'hot' defining what the heroines wear and how they are presented in front the camera. So we thought we would do something slightly different in terms of the song as well as the dance. Even my co-producer Dinesh Vijan was keen to have a mujra," Saif said, while unveiling the first look of the film recently.

The dance has been choreographed by Saroj Khan, who is known for her mastery of the classical dance forms.

"Kareena has given her best dance performance in the song. It is a new-age mujra but we have retained the real mujra feel," Saroj said.

Kareena is not a trained kathak dancer and had to undergo training. According to sources, she rehearsed for almost 22 hours to perfect the steps.

The leaked snapshots of Kareena's mujra show that her look in the song is trendier than that of actresses such as Rekha and Madhuri Dixit in their mujrewaali avatars. Kareena reveals far too much bosom in a red anarkali kurta and churidar with minimal ornaments. Unlike the famous mujra queens of Bollywood, who always wore heavy ornaments, Kareena is seen wearing only a pair of long earrings and a bracelet on one hand.

Saif and Sriram decided to approach Kareena after Priyanka Chopra refused to do an item number in the film.

Source: India Today