Entertainment Desk:

After a quarter of a century in Bollywood, actress Kareena Kapoor Khan says she still has the same passion, enthusiasm and drive as a debutante.

“I still can’t believe it’s actually going to be 25 years,” she told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday as she attended the official announcement of a week-long film festival marking her 25 years in Bollywood in the past two decades.

“It just feels like I just gave my first shot yesterday because that’s the kind of energy I have inside me. I still have that fire, that want, that need, that greed of wanting to just be in front of the camera,” she told reporters in Mumbai.

The film festival will run in over 30 cinema halls in 15 cities from 20 to 27 September.

Granddaughter of Hindi cinema’s first family and icon Raj Kapoor, Kareena made her debut as an actor with J P Dutta’s “Refugee”, opposite Abhishek Bachchan in 2000. She soon established herself as one of the top leading ladies of Bollywood with critically-acclaimed and commercial successful movies such as “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…”, “Yuva”, “Chameli”, “Omkara”, “Jab We Met”, “Talaash: The Answer Lies Within”, “Udta Punjab”, “3 Idiots”, “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, “Golmaal 3”, “Veere Di Wedding” and “Crew” to her credit.

The 43-year-old actor said when she entered the industry, the focus was on proving herself and being in as many films as possible.

“After a decade, if you are able to sustain, it’s also about the question of reinvention, which is very scary in a male-dominated industry.

The actor said luck did play a role in her success and at the same time, it was also due to her eagerness to try something new.

Kareena also talked about her two fan-favourite characters — Poo from Karan Johar’s “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…” and Geet from Imtiaz Ali-directed “Jab We Met”.