Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 16, 2015)

Kareena Kapoor is producing and presenting a documentary written and directed by her school friend, Aditi Kapoor. Aditi was the technical director on the fourth instalment of the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and the 2013 Hollywood animation film, Epic.

The yet-to-betitled documentary marks her directorial debut in India and propagates women empowerment through the real life story of a girl who struggles to get herself educated and become independent. Shooting begins at the end of October.

"Kareena and Aditi studied together at Welham Girls' School in Dehradun. When Aditi began discussing her script, Kareena jumped on board towards the end of August. She's a hands-on producer, has already had one narration and suggested some additions to the script. These include recent changes in teaching methods in government schools, use of technology to improve education and interactions with organisations working towards making people and celebrities more aware of problems faced by women. Bebo has definitely done her homework on this one," says a source close to the actress, adding that she could also be the narrator and play a role, like Leonardo DiCaprio did in the environmental docu-feature, The 11th Hour, which he co-scripted, produced and narrated.

Kareena joined the Girl Rising campaign alongside Priyanka Chopra, Freida Pinto, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra, Madhuri Dixit, Nandita Das and Sushmita Sen, a series aimed at educating the beti and giving her wings. It took one phone call from Priyanka to get Kareena's nod. And the begum will take the cause further with this documentary.