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Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls' School in Dehradun.
[9] She attended the institu-

tion primarily to satisfy her mother, though later admitted to liking the experience.[2] According to Kapoor, she was not inclined to-
wards academics though received good grades in all her classes except mathematics.[2] Upon graduating from Welham, she re-
turned to Mumbai and studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College.[9] Kapoor then registered for a three-month summer
course in microcomputers at Harvard Summer School in the United States.[9] She later developed an interest in law, and enrolled
at the Government Law College, Mumbai; during this period, she developed a long-lasting passion for reading.[9] However, after
completing her first year, she decided to pursue her interest in acting, though she later regretted not having completed her edu-
cation.[13][14] She began training at an acting institute in Mumbai mentored by Kishore Namit Kapoor, a member of the Film and
Television Institute of India.[15]
Life and career

See also: Kareena Kapoor Khan filmography
Career beginnings, breakthrough and setback (2000–2003)

While training at the institute, Kapoor was cast as the lead in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), opposite Hrithik
Roshan. Several days into the filming, however, she abandoned the project since more prominence was given to the director's
son than her. She debuted later that year alongside Abhishek Bachchan in J. P. Dutta's Refugee. Set during the Indo-Pakistani
War of 1971, Kapoor was introduced as Naaz, a Bangladeshi girl with whom Bachchan's character falls in love. Dutta cast her
for the combination of youthfulness and innocence he found in her, and Kapoor considered their collaboration to be a learning
experience that helped her personally and professionally.[9][16] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama noted "the ease with which
she emotes the most difficult of scenes",[17] and India Today reported that she belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors that
breaks away from character stereotypes.[18] Refugee was a moderate box-office success in India and Kapoor's performance
earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.[19][20]
Kapoor at the launch of a book on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... in 2001

Kapoor was paired opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's box-office hit Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (2001).[19] A review
in The Hindu noted that based on her first two films, she was "definitely the actress to watch out for".[21] She next starred
in Subhash Ghai's flop Yaadein, followed by Abbas–Mustan's moderately successful thriller Ajnabee.[19] Later that year, she ap-
peared in Santosh Sivan's period epic Aśoka, a partly fictionalised account of the life of the Indian emperor Ashoka. Featured
opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Kapoor found herself challenged playing the complex personality of her character Kaurwaki with
whom Ashoka falls in love.[22] Aśoka was screened at the Venice and 2001 Toronto International Film Festivals,[23] and received
generally positive reviews internationally but failed to do well in India, which was attributed by critics to the way Ashoka was por-
trayed.[24] Jeff Vice of The Deseret News commended her compelling screen presence,[25] but Rediff.com believed that she was
primarily used for aesthetic purposes.[26] At the 47th Filmfare Awards, Aśoka was nominated for five awards including a Best
Actress nomination for Kapoor.[20]
A breakthrough in Kapoor's career came when she was cast by Karan Johar as Pooja ("Poo", a good-natured, superficial girl) in
the 2001 melodrama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham....[27] She found little resemblance between herself and her "over-the-top" char-
acter, and modeled Poo's personality on that of Johar.[28] Filming the big-budget production, alongside an ensemble cast was a
new experience for Kapoor, and she recalls it fondly as a dream come true.[29] Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... was an immensely
popular release, finishing as India's second highest-grossing film of the year and Kapoor's highest-grossing film to that point.[30] It
became one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over ₹1 billion (US$13 million) world-
wide.[31] Taran Adarsh described Kapoor as "one of the main highlights of the film",[32] and she received her second Filmfare nomi-
nation for the role—her first for Best Supporting Actress—as well as nominations at the International Indian Academy (IIFA)
and Screen Awards.[20]
Box Office India reported that the success of Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... established Kapoor as
a leading actress of Hindi cinema,[33] and Rediff.com published that with Aśoka she had become the highest-paid Indian actress
to that point earning ₹15 million (US$190,000) per film.[34] During 2002 and 2003, Kapoor continued to work in a number of
projects but experienced a setback. All six films in which she starred—Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Talaash:
The Hunt Begins..., Khushi, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, and the four-hour war epic LOC Kargil—were critically and commer-
cially unsuccessful.[19] Critics described her performances in these films as variations of the character she played in Kabhi Khushi
Kabhie Gham..., and expressed concern that she was becoming typecast.[35] She later spoke positively of this period, recalling it
as a beneficial lesson which taught her to work harder.[36]
Professional expansion (2004–2006)

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Kapoor attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls' School in Dehradun.

[9] She attended the institu-

Life and career

Career beginnings, breakthrough and setback (2000–2003)

Kapoor at the launch of a book on Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... in 2001

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