Kareena Kapoor in Heroine 2012 film

Heroine (IPA: [ˈhɛroʊɪn]) is an upcoming Indian film directed, co-written and co-produced by Madhur Bhandarkar. Revolving around the life of a once successful film actress, Mahi Arora, whose career is on the decline, the film features Kareena Kapoor as the protagonist along with actors Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda and Rakesh Bapat. Additionally, the project also stars Shahana Goswami, Divya Dutta, Helen, Shillpi Sharma and Lillete Dubey in supporting roles. Heroine is scheduled to release on 21 September 2012.



Kareena Kapoor as Mahi Arora
Originally the first choice for her role, Kapoor was hesitant to take on the project when Bhandarkar approached her with the film's brief initial idea.  She explained reservations about the criticism her character might evoke as well as the intimate sequences with several of her co-stars, and was subsequently replaced by Aishwarya Rai. Several days after production began, Rai left the film due to her pregnancy, and Bhandarkar re-approached Kapoor with the film.  Once the director reinforced his faith in her, she agreed to do the film when she was handed the completed script.  Prior to being cast in Heroine, Bhandarkar approached Kapoor with Page 3 (2005) and Fashion (2008), both of which she could not do due to prior commitments.  Kapoor, who described her character as being "bipolar and schizophrenic", refrained from taking on any other projects as she found Heroine to be "very aggressive and tiring"

Kareena Kapoor in Heroine 2012 film