Hurricane Katrina blows away Bollywood

She is young, she is busy and she is a superstar. Five years after Katrina Kaif made her debut in the rather tragic film Boom, she has scaled every peak that critics said she couldn't. But while the jury is still out on her acting abilities, hard-working Katrina has not had a flop for several years now. And to top it all, the Hong Kong-born girl even dubs for her own character, something which she could never do before because she didn't understand Hindi – indeed, she was dismissed from a Mahesh Bhatt film for that reason. Ranked as the sexiest woman alive by FHM magazine a few months ago, she plays Dubai tomorrow as part of Shah Rukh Khan's du-sponsored Temptations Reloaded tour at Dubai Festival City. Emirates Business caught up with her ahead of the show.

You're performing in Dubai tomorrow. What should we expect?

Dubai is one of my favourite cities. I will be performing there after a long time. I will be doing my songs from Race and some of Shah Rukh's songs.

Two of the biggest hits this year have been your films – Singh is Kinng and Race.

Yes. I am really thankful to the audience for accepting the films well.

So from being written off as a non-actress to Number One in the industry, you've come a long way?

That's the beautiful thing about India and our industry. India for me is the country where – I know everyone in the world dreams – but for me India is a country which is built on dreams. From the man on the street to people living in luxury, every one is encouraged to dream and fantasise. Imagine a complete outsider like me coming into the industry and people being so warm and welcoming – especially the audience who have accepted me. Like my friends were telling me that if I go watch a film of mine at [the independent Mumbai cinema] Chandan I'd see people cheering when my character makes her appearance. I'd love to go and see that.

Let's go back to Race. What made you want to play such a negative character?

You know, I had a blast. I was pretty uncertain about it when I took on the movie. The first half had nothing new for the audience in terms of my character. But everything changed in the second half. I was really concerned how the people would react, but they were fantastic. I didn't expect that and it gave me the confidence to experiment more.

Your next film is a big-budget movie, Yuvvraaj, where you're acting with Salman Khan. We hear you only want to work on films that also feature Salman and Akshay Kumar.

It's not really how it looks. The media keeps writing a lot about Salman and me and so there is a feeling that we have been working together a lot. I have only worked opposite him in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. In Partner I was opposite Govinda so it was not like I worked with Salman. In fact we hardly had scenes together. That makes Yuvvraaj the second film I will be seen cast opposite him.

As far as working with Akshay goes, people like to see us together and he is a great actor to work with. And over a period of time we have definitely developed a chemistry – and we look good together!

You are now also dubbing for your characters?

Yes – but I had to start from the basics as Hindi was almost a foreign language!

So do you look at things differently now from when you debuted in Boom?

I never look back to what I have done before. That was my state of mind at that point of time. Can you remember what you were doing at 18? Sitting in the canteen whistling at girls! Everyone at 18 is a child. It is only now that I am 23 that I feel like I am a woman and I am responsible for my actions and my choices. In a few years, I will be 30, and then I will look back [at Boom] and remember what fun it was. You've got to live in the moment. If you're too serious or calculating, you will end up nowhere. I'll let you in on something I've never told anyone: Many of the movies that I wanted to do, I wasn't signed to, and the ones that I did and have turned out well were not often the ones I really wanted. And the ones I did want, didn't often do very well. So sometimes I feel maybe god had a hand in it, in taking care of you.

Which movies did you want to do?

I can't tell you, but let me say there were some really big movies that didn't fare so well, that I wanted to do but didn't happen.

What else are you working on at the moment?

There is Ajab Pyaar Ki Gazab Kahani directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, also starring Ranbir Kapoor. It's one of the best scripts I've ever read. And I'm looking forward to the new YashRaj film with John Abraham and Neil Mukesh that is directed by Kabir Khan. That's a bit of a serious film and will see more realistic performances.


PROFILE: Katrina Kaif, Actor

One of eight sisters born to a British mother and a Kashmiri father, 23-year-old Kaif grew up in Hawaii and London. She started modelling at 14 and four years later featured in a memorable role in Kaizad Gustad's Boom, alongside supermodels Madhu Sapre and Padmalakshmi.

After a few years in South Indian films, she returned to Bollywood with Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar, but was really noticed in Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya with Salman Khan.

She has since starred opposite Akshay Kumar in several movies, including Namastey London, Welcome, Singh is Kinng and the forthcoming De Dana Dhan.

Last year, FHM magazine named her the sexiest woman in the world.