Kareena vamps it up in Saif's next, Agent Vinod

Agent Vinod, Saif Ali Khan's next outing as a producer, stars ladylove Kareena Kapoor. But in the movie, Bebo works with the evil guys! Saif who plays the title character has to figure out if she is the gangster's moll or simply a girl caught in their web as a victim of circumstance.



Says a source, "Kareena's character works for a bunch of corporate honchos who want to rake in the profits from a war-like scenario in the Asian subcontinent. Agent Vinod, who is chasing them, has to first decide whether he can trust her because he believes in the dictum - your first mistake could also be your last!"

Adds the source, "Though Agent Vinod can crack cases even with the most cryptic clues, when it comes to the Kapoor girl's persona, he can't resort to his trademark antic - as someone who first rips the door open and then finds out what's behind it."

In a new light
A source close to Kareena admits that her role is "shocking" in the film. "It's something Bebo hasn't attempted before. She's not paired romantically with Saif. People will be stunned to see Kareena in a new light."

Incidentally, Bebo made her displeasure felt when director Imtiaz Ali cast Deepika Padukone in Saif's first home production, Love Aaj Kal. For Agent Vinod, Saif pencilled in Bebo at the outset for a challenging, powerful role.

Though writer-director Sridhar Raghavan's spy thriller goes on the floors later in the year, it is learnt that the Agent Vinod character has been moulded not only like 007, but also on Jack Bauer (the government agent in the American TV series 24) as well as Jason Bourne, the signature character of a CIA assassin in Robert Ludlum's novels and its film adaptations.

To the rescue
Agent Vinod is slated to be filmed at exotic locations all over the globe. The source continues, "A string of events unfold in the film with a caretaker being murdered and a grave dug open in Uzbekistan. In Hamburg, a scientist is kidnapped.

While in London, a painter is murdered. Elsewhere, an Indian agent is caught as he's spying. He manages to flee and send a warning that someone is planning a conspiracy against India. This is when Agent Vinod steps in to save the country from disaster."u00a0

Of the original
Deepak Bahry's Agent Vinod (1977), produced by Rajshri Films, starred Mahendra Sandhu, Asha Sachdev, Rehana Sultan and Nasir Hussain. It was about the kidnapping of a scientist that prompts the secret services chief to assign flamboyant Agent Vinod to the case.