Kareena's Name Is Agent Vinod Inspired By Iram

Iram Parveen Bilal may have come across as a rather unique Pakistani name. It's no wonder then that director Sriram Raghavan chose to name his lead character in Agent Vinod, Kareena Kapoor, just that. However, the name is hardly a figment of one's imagination, for there really is an Iram Parveen Bilal.

Iram is a Pakistani national alright, the real Iram is a filmmaker who is currently working on the post production of her Pakistani film -Josh. "She met Sriram at the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles, in 2008. Her short film, Poshak, set in Karachi, was screened at that festival. There were a lot of Bollywood directors at the fest, including Anurag Kashyap. Guess Sriram just liked the sound of my name. then he Sriram told that he was going to use it in his film, as there was a Pakistani character in there.

A short filmmaker by profession, Iram's current project, Josh, is her first commercial venture. The film stars Aamina Sheikh (a popular actress in Pakistan), Mohib Mirza, Khalid Malik, Adnan Shah Tipu and Khalid Ahmed (Imtiaz Ali's uncle) amongst others.

out Josh, Iram says it's inspired by the true stories of the village-ordered rape of Mukhtar Mai in tribal Pakistan and of activist Parveen Saeed who vowed to decrease crime in Pakistan by creating self-sustaining food kitchens in the slums.