Kareena Kapoor Khan has broken a lot of stereotypes attached to pregnancy and motherhood.
Since her pregnancy last year, actor Kareena Kapoor has been redefining normalcy in motherhood, doing opposite of what is expected of expecting and new mothers. From working through most of the pregnancy, not compromising on her fashion choices just to suit the new development in her body, to getting back to work within a month of her delivery, Kareena has broken a lot of stereotypes attached to motherhood. But another way to look at it is that the Bollywood star has actually approached her pregnancy in a manner most of the common working women – our mothers have done – with the only difference that their nine months haven’t been in the public eye.
So, naturally, she strongly feels against the societal norms for mothers, including the one about new mothers wanting to get back into their pre-pregnancy shape. Two months after giving birth to Taimur in December, Kareena began gymming and it made news for various things that people said about the actor, including questions about the need to work out just after the delivery, leaving her baby at home. Kareena, at an event in the city on Saturday evening, expressed how people’s perception has annoyed her.
“It’s the most normal thing that a woman goes through that is child birth and the weight gain is natural. That is important. The idea was that I never felt pressure. The idea behind me going to gym came from the fact that I want to feel good and happy. So many people and girls went like why does she have to leave her baby and go to the gym. I read these comments and I feel that’s the most stupid thing because having a child doesn’t mean you don’t feel good. If you are feeling good, if your mental health is good then automatically your child feels well. Taimur is happy and everyone is happy. I never feel any kind of pressure. I am the most relaxed and chilled out girl,” Kareena answered when asked if she felt a pressure to lose weight due to the nature of her profession.
The actor’s media interaction was on the sidelines of the launch of celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar’s book Pregnancy Notes. At the event, Kareena also spoke about how she didn’t want to adhere to any societal diktat during her pregnancy and only followed her heart. “I wanted to stay active. I know in our society, it is thought that women should not go out when they are expecting. They should rest a lot, stay in the bed. But I didn’t want to do that. I have always followed my heart and I did whatever I wanted to do.”
The session on motherhood also saw Kareena mentioning that she and husband Saif Ali Khan don’t want to give an overprotective life to Taimur and hence they don’t have any problem with him getting attention from the paparazzi. “The culture has changed now. Wherever you go, everybody is quite open, getting photographed. You go out, go to the gym, you are getting photographed and he (Taimur) is as normal as everyone else. So, why should be be treated as if he is not normal? His parents are normal, his friends will be normal so, we want to… It’s fine. It’s absolutely okay. It’s his journey, it’s his life.”
