Exclusive | Abhinay Deo reveals he had to teach Karisma Kapoor how to smoke for Brown, calls her an underrated actor | WATCH

Karisma Kapoor has largely stayed away from the spotlight in recent years, something she has admitted she has been enjoying. Two years after Murder Mubarak, the project that she did only for his friend and the director of the project, Homi Adajania, the actress is making her comeback with the ZEE5 series Brown, where she plays Rita Brown, a character unlike any she has portrayed before.

To step into the shoes of the troubled police officer, Karisma underwent a significant transformation. One of the biggest challenges for her was learning how to smoke a cigarette on screen, something she had never done in real life.

In an exclusive conversation, director Abhinay Deo opened up about casting Karisma in a role that was completely against the glamorous and romantic image she has been known for throughout her career. He also revealed the lengths she went to in order to transform into Rita Brown, an alcoholic, chain-smoking, emotionally complex police officer.

Why Abhinay Deo chose Karisma Kapoor for Brown

Curious over why Karishma was chosen for the role, to this Abhinay shared as he explained his casting choice.

''Why I chose Karishma, now that's an interesting story. The whole idea for me was that Karishma was not the, like when you think about who should play this character, what is Rita Brown? Rita Brown is an alcoholic, chain smoker, troubled person, you know, has a lot of baggage, does not wear fitting clothes. She wears loose clothes.''

He added that Karisma was the last person audiences would expect for such a role, which is exactly why he wanted her.

''When you think of who should play this, Karishma's name does not come in first, because she's known for her romantic roles, her glamour, kind of roles. But that's the very reason why I wanted to cast her. That she is somebody who is, I think, one of the most underrated actors, where she has been typecast in this romantic, glam kind of parts, but she's such a fine actor, that eventually, when I cast her in this, and when she agreed to do it, in the first day itself, the first scene she did itself, I knew that it was the perfect casting.''

Karisma Kapoor learned to smoke for the role

When asked about Karisma's portrayal of a chain-smoker in the series, Abhinay revealed a surprising behind-the-scenes story, the biggest challenge - smoking, which turned out to be something entirely unexpected.

''Insight joke was that I didn't realize that, she doesn't smoke. So first I had to teach her how to smoke. The first day went into making sure that she knows how to smoke because she doesn't smoke at all. And the problem is, in films or in series, you can put apple juice in place of alcohol, and we can get away with it. But you can't do that with a cigarette.''

''You have to really smoke a cigarette. So I had to teach her how to smoke a cigarette first. But she was convinced and she did it incredibly. And the end, there's no one who will turn around and say that oh, she does not know how to smoke. She smoked on the first day of shoot and on the last day of shoot after that, she's never touched it,'' he said.

Directed by Abhinay Deo, Brown will begin streaming on Zee5 starting June 5, 2026.