Kareena Kapoor says her police character in Meghna Gulzar’s Daayra challenges the familiar stereotypes attached to women cops on screen.
According to NDTV, Kapoor returns to the big screen after a two-year break in the film, playing DCP Ajooni Kohli opposite Prithviraj Sukumaran’s DCP Raman Kumar. The police procedural drama hits theatres on Friday.
Women police officers in films are often shown with masculine mannerisms, a tough walk and a gun in hand. Kapoor said Daayra takes a different approach.
“There is this stereotypical format kind of a version that we have that she is butch, she slightly has that particular walk, she’s slightly manly, gun uthake action karti hai (she picks up a gun to do action),” she said in response to an NDTV question about how the portrayal of police officers has changed.
Kapoor said Gulzar was clear from the outset that she wanted a woman police officer at the centre of the story.
Inspired by several real-life incidents from across India, Daayra follows two contrasting approaches to justice through Ajooni and Raman. The story centres on a gang rape and the subsequent murder of the victim.
Kapoor said the sensitive subject shaped Gulzar’s decision to make a woman cop one of the film’s central characters.
“In this film, because of the sensitivity of the subject, Meghna was clear that she wanted a woman cop. Somebody who is a woman, is feminine, who puts lipstick, but at the same time is quite stern but does everything with a smile,” she said.
“Ajooni walks the straight rope but she does not pick up a gun and does her action chops. That’s not her character as such,” Kapoor added.
Gulzar’s previous directorial film was the 2023 biographical drama Sam Bahadur. Her filmography has also explored crime, justice, accountability and their wider human impact through films such as Talvar and Chhapaak.
Asked whether Daayra forms part of a similar trilogy, Gulzar said the connection was coincidental.
“It’s not by design. The attraction is for the story, what happens with the human quotient in it is more important for me,” she said.
“The overriding arches of law, justice, crime, and punishment are coincidentally similar in the film. For me, the most crucial part of the story is the human quotient,” the filmmaker added.
Written by Yash Keswani, Sima Agarwal and Gulzar, Daayra is backed by Junglee Pictures and Pen Studios. The film is scheduled to hit theatres on Friday, where it will compete at the box office with Kunal Kemmu’s Vibe.
