Kareena Kapoor excited to 'Indianise' Black Widow in upcoming Marvel project

After essaying some noteworthy characters in Bollywood hits such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Jab We Met, Kareena Kapoor Khan is excited to play Avenger's Black Widow, in the audio podcast series The Wastelanders. As per the actor, she’s all ready to “Indianise” the character.

In a conversation with the Indian Express, the Laal Singh Chaddha actor shared that she’s looking forward to embrace the role as she resonates with the Marvel superhero. For someone who’s been on the screen for over two decades, The Wastelanders will be a new experience for Kareena who will be acting solely with voice, without a visual reference.

About Black Widow, the iconic character played by Scarlett Johansson in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Kareena said that she “felt a connection” with the character when she started reading up on it. “Black Widow is so powerful and fierce, somewhere I resonated with it when they kept sending me stuff to read up on. I instantly connected with her story and character, and got an idea why they wanted me to play this,” she said. “I’m also a very fierce person, in a good way. Fierce can go either way but it is like a compliment for me. Somehow if you do it positively, it works for you. So, I felt very close to Black Widow, so close that I could feel a connection.”

However, Kareena does not plan to play the character as it is, but she wishes to give her own personal Indian touch to the Black Widow character as it will be played in Hindi. “Let's see what I can add, a little bit of mystery, a little bit of power and intrigue is what I’m thinking of adding to the character.”

When asked if she would also add a pinch of her glamorous Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham character Poo to it, she laughed and said, “no, Poo Black Widow, imagine?!”

Upon asking why Kareena always shied away from action-oriented films before and what finally brought her to the genre, she explained that it’s the audience that is more open to exploring female actors doing more roles than the typical cliched love interests.

“We’ve grown up watching action-packed films in Bollywood, but I think now is the time when people are open to exploring female actors doing different kinds of roles, including action roles. While I’m yet to explore this genre in a feature film, I’d love to play a spy or an assassin on screen, I think it’s high time I tried action, I think I’ll be able to pull it off. So I’m looking at playing Black Widow as a start in that direction.”

Kareena’s husband and actor Saif Ali Khan will also be part of the Marvel Audible project as Star-Lord. When asked whether Bollywood bigwigs are chosen as voice actors for the Hindi project because of their fandom, Kareena concurred. “I think so. I think there’s always this craze anyway. Everyone, at any age, is a Marvel fan, so, to Indianise it and have it told in a completely different way, and in Hindi, is going to target a different kind of audience. The entire mass would love to know here and listen to it, I think it will be huge.”

Giving examples from her personal life, Kareena said that her son is also a Marvel fan. “My younger son is two, he is too young for it but my older son, yes, is into Thor and Wolverine and he and his father keep discussing this more than me.”