Kareena Kapoor on 'Daayra': Law and Justice Don't Always Align

Kareena Kapoor Khan has said that while she prefers to see life in clear terms, her new film 'Daayra' occupies a space where right and wrong are not easily separated. The actor plays a police officer named Ajooni in Meghna Gulzar's film, which pairs her opposite Prithviraj Sukumaran as two senior cops who confront the same case from opposing positions.

Speaking about the tension between the letter of the law and the delivery of justice, Kareena said staying true to her character was a challenge because the conflict never fully resolves. She drew on a line from a song written by Gulzar to describe how the idea of truth keeps shifting, and said the dilemma was felt not just by her but also by the director during the writing and by Prithviraj in his role as Raman.

"As a person, I walk the straight line. I like to believe in life that it's black and white. But in the film, it is grey," she said.

According to Kareena, Ajooni departs from the familiar template for female police officers on screen. She described the character as unapologetically feminine — someone who wears lipstick, keeps a calm manner and stays firm in her principles rather than relying on guns or high-octane action. The actor said the director was clear that Ajooni would not resort to typical action-hero behaviour.

Gulzar said the difficulty of the film lies in refusing to flatten its central question into a simple choice between two sides. The moral conundrum, she said, presses on both ends — the strict application of the law and the delivery of justice — and the film examines how such conflicts might be addressed. She added that while law, justice, crime and punishment recur in her work, her real interest is the human dimension behind those themes, and that the pattern is coincidental rather than planned.

Prithviraj, who plays DCP Raman Kumar, said the film deliberately stays in a grey zone instead of pushing viewers to pick a side. He said he neither agrees with everything his character does nor rejects all of it, and the same holds for Ajooni. He contrasted 'Daayra' with his earlier film 'Jana Gana Mana', noting that the latter used a specific incident to comment on wider socio-political dynamics, while the new film looks at the legal and systemic processes that follow an incident. He said he joined the project because the story stood for something larger than the individuals involved.

Kareena also addressed how the film differs from Rohit Shetty's cop universe, in which police characters are presented on a larger-than-life scale. She said every director works in a different universe, describing Shetty's world as grand and Gulzar's as grounded, realistic and complex, and added that she feels fortunate to move between both.

Reflecting on her choices after 25 years in the industry, Kareena said taking on a challenge remains essential for an actor. She called playing Ajooni an honour and said the role adds a different shade to her body of work.

'Daayra' is set to release in theatres on September 18. The makers describe it as inspired by true events, unfolding in the aftermath of a crime that grips the nation and triggers two investigations, with the two officers navigating the same system through different approaches to duty and justice.