A Patiala peg for Kareena Kapoor

After a good break from hectic schedules, Kareena Kapoor is back and all set to woo real life beau Shahid Kapur in director Imtiaz Ali's next film.

The two will be together for a long shoot, which begins on April 1. Ali had launched Abhay Deol in the film "Socha Na Tha".

"We'll be shooting in Patiala and I've never visited the city before. Also, I get to play this really loud Punjabi woman, which I haven't done earlier. Shahid plays a quiet character. Come to think of it, I've been awfully quiet in my last few films like 'Aitraaz' and 'Omkara'. About time I came out of the shell," Kareena told IANS.

Kareena also gets to go blissfully rustic in Mani Ratnam's "Lajjo". Considering that everyone is commenting on how svelte and urbane she looked on "Koffee With Karan", wouldn't the rustic act be a little hard to carry out?

"Not at all! That's where the talent comes in," she riposted. "In fact, in the Yash Raj film that comes between Imtiaz Ali and Mani Ratnam's films, I play an extremely glamorous woman. So it'll balance itself out."

Kareena rang in Shahid's 25th birthday on Feb 25 in Goa instead of the foreign spot they intended to visit for the occasion.

"We had no time," explained Kareena. "I had to fly back to Mumbai to collect my Filmfare award... I keep bumping into my 'Omkara' director Vishal Bharadwaj at all these awards functions. I wish he signs me for his next."

"It looks like my days of chilling out are numbered. Now it's work, work and more work for the rest of the year," sighed Kareena.

But she's happy. She'll get to spend some more quality time with Shahid on the sets of Ali's film.