Samaira is my biggest fashion critic: Karisma Kapoor

Karisma Kapoor isn’t working on any film as of now, but she is using her celebrity status for a good cause. She recently launched the third season of USL-Diageo Road to Safety initiative, where we caught up. During our conversation, Lolo talked about motherhood and how her daughter is her biggest fashion critic. Excerpts:

What made you take up this initiative?

This is the second time I’m being associated with the initiative. As young mothers, we are very concerned about children walking on the streets. Children go to school, the bus stops, it’s a matter of concern because people need to be responsible to drive their vehicles properly.

What are the changes that you have undergone post motherhood?

Motherhood completely changes you as a woman and your whole focus becomes your children, which I love and enjoy a lot. So I think these small initiatives which we can be a part of, which also help our children and family, means a lot. In a certain way, yes. It has definitely altered my choices in life. Work is secondary for me as a mom. It’s all about rushing back home and being with my kids. My housemaid was just calling me (laughs). So definitely, it’s a matter of my choice and I choose to do that.

Your daughter is growing up. Have you guys started sharing clothes? 

Well, my daughter Samaira is my biggest fashion critic. (Laughs) When I dress up for events, if she doesn’t like what I’m wearing, she will be like, ‘Mom, change these shoes. I really don’t like it.’ She has great fashion sense and she completely participates in everything.

Are you more of a friend to her?

It is very important to be a friend to your kids. We have started to discuss things. Of course, we both have that respect and we both know there are boundaries. But it is very important. Also, it’s because Kareena and I grew up being friends with our parents. So that’s why it has become an important aspect in my behaviour, too.

In the 90s, you would not have to worry too much about how you look, off screen. Today, there’s so much of paparazzi...

(Cuts in) It was a very different style of paparazzi. Very simple and quiet. We would be shooting away in studios and toiling for hours together. Then, there would be these sweet photographers, only eight to ten of them, who would be waiting for hours ki ‘please humein photo de do’. It was a different era and time.

Tabu said that she loved that culture because she could just put oil in her hair and go to the airport without worrying about the fashion policing...

Yeah, exactly! It didn’t matter so much. People would not be writing about what we are wearing in our day to day lives. It was never about fashion only. It was more about performance. Now, it has become an amalgamation of both.

And you have nailed it completely on the fashion circuit. Being from a different time, was it difficult to adjust?

No. You need to grow with the times. Also, the times are moving and the world is coming more together because of technology, media and the Internet. As an actress, as a mother, as a person, as a woman, we have to keep growing. So you have to get used to things like this as well. And I love dressing up. I love wearing new outfits and shoes. So it has been great for me.

Has Samaira ever spoken about becoming an actress?

Well, no! My kids have a very simple home life. We don’t discuss movies all the time. Instead, we are always discussing studies, activities. It’s not a special home or anything different. It’s like any normal child growing up. My kids are really young now so they haven’t made up their minds on anything. I know what your next question would be so, I will answer that, too. Whatever my kids want to do, I will support them. It could be working in the film industry, it might not be. And I will always be okay with my kids’ choices!