Karisma Kapoor is all set to return to acting with a web-series called Mentalhood, produced by Ekta Kapoor and co-starring Dino Morea, Sandhya Mridul, Shruti Seth, Tilottama Shome, Sanjay Suri and others. The actress says that Mentalhood is not just any other show that provides entertainment, but there is also a message in the bottle.
“I am super excited and very emotional because this is not just an entertainment series. It has a message in every episode, which is so beautiful. It is about mothers and how they are bringing up children. Even when I was bringing up my kids—I am the oldest mom among this team working here—I have felt what our mothers have done for us,” says Karisma on her comeback post Dangerous Ishq.
Programme creator Ekta Kapoor says that the concept of the show that came to her made her want to make that into a web series, and the first name that came to her mind was Karisma. “The moment I heard the script, I knew that I had to call Karisma and ask her to do it. That is the first name that came to mind. But we have worked for over three years with 47 drafts of the script before we started shooting,” she reveals.
The Balaji queen makes a startling revelation about her own son Ravie, who was born through surrogacy. “I am sure none of them were aware that I was planning a child through surrogacy. When the narrations and scripting of this web series was taking place for the past many months, there were so many moments in it and I felt, ‘Oh my god!’,” says Ekta, amazed at the likeliness of her life and the series which also had a parent getting a surrogate child.
Karisma says that even Ekta had star quality in her. “Our dads, my father and Jeetuji (Jeetendra) would take us along with Tusshar and Ekta for some vacations in Kashmir and we would stay at the Oberoi Hotel. Every evening Ekta would dance to Sriji (Sridevi) and Jeetuji’s songs and entertain everyone. She should be in front of the camera and not just behind it,” shares Karisma.
Ekta continues the mutual admiration, revealing that before Karisma made her debut, she was very sure of what she wanted to be. “We were a few star kids going to dance class in those days. I was going because I had to lose weight. Others would come in for an hour and dance and leave, but Karisma would dance non-stop for six hours without taking a break. When she made her debut opposite Harish in a film Prem Qaidi (1991), everyone wondered why, but I was sure that she would make it and here she is, a superstar,” she exclaims.
