What happened to Karisma Kapoor’s career? Why did it end while her sister Kareena’s career has continued to be successful?

Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor are the most popular dynamic siblings of Bollywood. Karisma was born in 1974, now she is 49. Kareena was born in 1980 and now she is 43 years old. There is an age difference of 6 years between them.

Karisma Kapoor took a break from acting in the films in 2003 when she got married with the business magnet Sunjay Kapur, the CEO of Sixt India. Their marriage was celebrated grandly at Krishna Raj bungalow, her ancestral house in Mumbai.

She took a long break of nearly 10 years from 2003–2012 to give attention to her family life and children. Their daughter was born in 2005 and a son in 2010. In 2014 misunderstandings arised between the couple and they got seperated in 2016.

When her career was in a good condition she took a break from acting and she had said about her taking a break was a ‘conscious decision’.

“It (acting) is ingrained in you. It is something that never goes away. I was waiting for something really interesting. It was out of my choice that I didn’t do any film because my kids were very young. I wanted to be at home with my family and children.”

Karisma made her acting debut at a very young age of 17 by acting in the romantic film Prem Quidi in 1991. She worked in Bollywood film industry continuously for more than a decade and did various types of roles from romantic glamourous roles to serious and comedy roles. In 90s it was a tough competition for any actress. Very popular actresses like Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit were at the peak, but still Karisma was one of the tough competitors for Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit alongside Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala and Kajol.

In the film Dil To Pagal Hai in 1997 she stealed the screen with her stunning dance performance and realistic acting though she was in a supporting role alongside Madhuri Dixit. In any angle Karisma didn’t appear inferior to Madhuri and also she won both National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Raja Hindustani (1996) was the major turning point in her filmy career, she received praises for her acting and she had received her first Filmfare Best Actress Award.

Untill 2003 she acted in several good films and gave impressive performances in the films such as Biwi No.1, Hum Saath Saath Hain, Fiza (2000), Zubeidaa (2001)and, Shakti: The Power (2002).

Karisma didn’t get support from her family to enter the Bollywood industry. In the beginning she suffered to begin her career because except her mother Babita everyone opposed her including her father Randhir Kapoor to enter into the Bollywood. She established her career on her own efforts.

But in the case of Kareena Kapoor, she got everyone’s support, it has become easy for her to follow her sister Karisma’s footage. Since her childhood she was accompanied with her sister on the sets of the films and award functions which helped her very much to develop career in acting. She was popular for her outlooks and being outspoken. Kareena doesn’t care for anyone, she does what she wants. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham( KKKG)was a major turning point in her career. Kareena made her acting debut at the age of 20 in 2000 with the film Refugee.

In 2012 she got married with Saif Ali Khan. Even after marriage she didn’t take break. Their two sons born in 2016 and 2021. After her marriage, she didn’t take break but decreased her workload to concentrate on her family life. After her marriage she worked in Talaash in 2012, Gori Tere Pyar Main in 2013, Singham Returns in 2014, Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 2015, Ki & Ka and Udta Punjab in 2016.

After she gave birth to her first child in 2016 she was convinced by her husband Saif to return to acting. She was interested to work in the film aliongwith managing her motherhood commitments and she got that chance in the film Veer Di Wedding in 2018 and it emerged as one of the highest grossing female led films.

In 2019 she did another film Good Newwz which was a blockbuster movie. Likewise she didn’t stop working in the films.

She entered into OTT also with a mother role in Jaane Jaan in 2023.

Karisma was one of the highest paid and top actresses of 90s. She appeared in the list of Box Office India’s Top Actresses for 5 years from 1996–2000 and ranked first to thrid in 1986, 1997 and 1999. She was the style icon of her time.

A Media called Karisma the ‘Original Bollywood Queen’. She was one of the most celebrated actresses. In the later stages of her career she became choosy in selecting her roles. She shifted to performance roles from glamour roles and proved her ability in both the categories. Green eyes is her special feature, she is known for her well maintained physique and dancing skills.

From 2003–2012, she didn’t act in any films, she made her comeback in 2012 with the film Dangerous Ishhq in which she portrayed four different characters which belongs to 4 different past lives. Her performance was quite good and she earned appreciations but the film failed at the box office. She again stayed away from acting.

In 2020 she did a mother’s role in web series Mentalhood.

Karisma acted in nearly 60 films excluding cameo appearances. Kareena acted in more than 50 films excluding cameo appearances. Karisma won a National Film Award and 4 Filmfare Awards so far out of 8 nominations in Filmfare. Kareena won 6 Filmfare Awards so far.

Kareena has been continuously working despite getting married and becoming a mother of two but Karisma took a long break that was the main reason for her downfall in her filmy career. At that time not only Karisma but several actresses said goodbye to acting at the peak of their careers and took a long break like Sridevi, Madhuri, Raveena and these actresses gave more importance to their family lives than career.

Currently Karisma is working in the upcoming mystery thriller movie ‘Ishq Mubarak ‘ in a supporting role alongside Pankaj Tripathi, Sara Ali Khan, Vijay Verma, Dimple Kapadia Sanjay Kapoor and others. It is set to release on 15th March 2024.

Now Kareena is working in a woman centric comedy film Crew alongside Tabu and Kriti Sanon and Singham Again alongside Ajay Devgn.