After Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan now focuses on Asin

(FILE) Cast of 'Ready'- Asin, Salman Khan and Zarine Khan, pose together. (AFP)

Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif promote their movie 'Ek Tha Tiger' in dance reality show 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'. (Supplied)

Published Monday, December 10, 2012

By Sneha May Francis

Asin appears to have a lot in common with Katrina Kaif. Apart from sharing the same mentor – Salman Khan, their initial movie selection appear to be identical.

Like Katrina, Asin’s initial achievements haven’t been her own.

Whether it’s ‘Ghajini’, or ‘Ready’, or ‘Houseful2’, or ‘Bol Bachchan’, they’ve worked because of her more famous co-stars. Her roles were not substantial and nothing to write home about.

But, it got her noticed. She was suddenly touted as a lucky mascot, a title earlier reserved for Katrina.

Asin’s market value skyrocketed and her initiation into Bollywood’s elitist Rs 100 crore club came with its perks.

It’s almost a repeat of how the beefy star molded Katrina Kaif’s career.

There was a time, when actors wanted to pair up with Katrina after ‘Namastey London’, ‘Apne’, ‘Partner’ and ‘Singh is Kinng’, because they thought she was box-office lucky.

Although critics didn’t think much of Katrina’s acting contribution and criticized her flawed diction, she turned a favourite among film producers.

“It was Salman who helped her out,” recalled an entertainment journalist. “There was no denying how naïve Katrina was. Salman is a firm believer in the numbers. Once you build that kind of track record, you’d instantly attract the good movies.”

Like Katrina, Asin’s acting talent has also received a lot of flak, yet her market value has only increased.

“Even though her movie roles aren’t impressive, Asin’s still in demand. And that itself is an achievement.”

Salman’s involvement in Katrina’s career has always been well documented, from her costume changes to her movie selections, he has a say in it all.

It was during their recent interview for ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ that he declared that Katrina shouldn’t attempt heroine-oriented movies just yet.

“Right now she’s doing commercial movies,” he explained during a telly interview. “For her to do these kind of roles (in heroine-oriented movies) is kind of too early. I think she can definitely pull off heroine-oriented roles but it has to be a superb script.

“I mean… it has to be a film that when it is announced, you know that it will be a house-full on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The day she has the confidence that she can get those numbers, she should do it.

“But until then, if you have to save your career you need to these movies. There’s always time for the other movies later on.”

It’s this theory that Asin is following as well.

Although Katrina has been following Salman’s career advice she has slowly tested the waters with more demanding roles. After spending her initial years being dolled up and playing second fiddle to her more prominent male co-stars, Katrina has finally stepped out from the shadows to make an impact.

She went onto do ‘New York’, ‘Raajneeti’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, where her roles required more than just good make-up and hairstyling.

However, she continues to balance it out with Bollywood masala flicks, which keep her market branding intact.

So, judging by how successful Katrina has turned out, it’s only a matter of time before Asin turns into a star herself. Or at least she’s hoping to.

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