‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’-Ekta Kapoor Brings Two Karishma-S Together For  Maverick Masterpiece ‘Mentalhood’

Chaitanya Padukone

With a galaxy of over 27 top TV celebs and Bollywood luminaries ( like Kareena Kapoor , Sanjay Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Amrita Arora )  the special star-studded big-screen preview screening of ALTBalaji’s  web-series ‘Mentalhood’ at the PVR Juhu is being hailed as a ‘mother’ of digital web-show premieres. Call it a sheer coincidence that the  no-holds-barred show ‘Mentalhood’, which is a brainchild of  telly czarina Ekta Kapoor, has the fabulous actress Karisma Kapoor  cast as the determined trim-glam super-mom ‘Meira Sharma’ who is also a former beauty-queen .  The light-eyed exuberant Kapoor (who is “super-excited”with her digital debut in this show ) will stage her comeback in a full-fledged lead role after a hiatus of  eight years,  in this ALT Balaji and ZEE5 web-series ‘Mentalhood’ which starts streaming on Wednesday, 11^th March. What added special sentiments to the event was the presence of Karisma’s mom (former Bollywood heroine) Babita, who along with her younger superstar daughter Kareena Kapoor-Khan made it an emotionally-touching occasion for Karisma. Not many are aware that the director of ‘Mentalhood’ is a young super--talented girl whose name is also Karishma (Kohli) who has been previously assisting eminent director-mentor  Kabir Khan for past ten years, in his landmark movies including ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. Hold-your-breath, this director Karishma happens to be the daughter of  Kuku (Sandesh) Kohli who has directed Ajay Devgn’s debut-launch mega-hit movie ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ (1991) followed by many more movies.

Enthuses director Karishma, “The biggest challenge of ‘Mentalhood’ was getting together this awesome ensemble cast of seasoned awesome actors  which required convincing . It was wonderful working with the kind and loving Ekta-ma’am. Besides her absolute backing, Ekta-ma’am also gave me the creative freedom to shoot it the way I wanted to, “ smiles Kohli, who has also been signed on as a director by Karan Johar’s ‘Dharma’ banner for an upcoming Netflix mega-show. Shares lead actress Karisma, “ The initials of the word  ‘MOM’ also stands for ‘Master Of Multi-Tasking’ since our show deals with and is tribute to ‘feminism and motherhood’ and the stress that goes with it. Our unique realistic show also handles relatable-relevant social issues includes  surrogacy, gender bias, teenage tantrums, bullying and the one-upmanship amongst parents and teachers, examination fever, single male parenthood and yet it is highly entertaining,”insists the articulate ‘Raja Hindustani’ actress.

The initial episodes of this  engaging family web-show were highly appreciated at the preview by  the star-glam-guests which included Kabir Khan, Kuku Kohli, Karishma Tanna, Mouni Roy, Aadar jain with his mom Reema Jain, Anweshi Jain, Rashami Desai, Hina Khan,Erica Fernandez, Gurdeep Kohli, Arjun Punj, Shefali Jariwala, Vidya Malawade,  Mandana Karimi. Aamna Sharief, Arjun Bijlani, Anita Hassnandani, Mini Mathur, Sumona Chakravarty, Amrita Arora, stylist-designer-actress Bandita Patro  and Rakshanda Khan. Besides lead actress Karisma, webseries ‘Mentalhood’ has an ensemble lead cast comprising ‘her on-screen-hubby’ suave Sanjay Suri, debonair Dino Morea, (as a ‘single parent’), Sandhya Mridul ( as the bossy, bully perfectionist parent known as ‘A-Jo’),Shilpa Shukla, Shruti Seth and Tilotma Shome

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Mentalhood, Maa Tujhe Salaam, Ekta Kapoor