MUMBAI: Manish Malhotra is having a hard time trying to bring down Kareena’s glamour-quotient in Stepmom to look like the ordinary workingwoman.

Kareena is leaving nothing to chance this time. In her determination to make sure she can match strides with the formidable scene-stealer Kajol in the desi Stepmom she has been quietly attending acting workshops with the film’s director Siddharth Malhotra. To make time for this, Kareena has been stealing time out of the rehearsals for the song that she began shooting with Aamir in 3 Idiots this week. Playing Kajol’s soutan in the Indian Stepmom won’t be a cakewalk for Kareena Kapoor. The two actresses start shooting together from the end of this month.

Says Kareena, “The last time I rehearsed for a part it was for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara. But that was a more unconventional film and role where I had to get into a milieu and character I knew nothing about. But Stepmom is urban and very contemporary. I play a very normal metro-centric working girl. It should’ve been easier.” Through the workshops Kareena is discovering how difficult it is to play a normal girl. “I walk, talk, dress like an ordinary working girl. I’ll be using no makeup.”

The clothes by Manish Malhotra will on this occasion be far less glamorous than what Kareena generally gets to wear. “I couldn’t cut my hair as planned because of continuity clashes. And I didn’t want to cut my long hair. But I’m going for a new hairstyle.”

The biggest challenge is to face the camera with the indomitable Kajol. Says Kareena, “She’s always been one of my favourite actresses. We worked together in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. But this is something else.” Kareena says there are a lot of dramatic scenes between the two women. “The desi version of Stepmom is very different from the original. My role is also a big departure from what Julia Roberts played in Stepmom.”