Katrina Kaif: From Salman (to Akshay) to Ranbir... to stardom

From being an outsider in Bollywood, who didn’t know Hindi well to becoming a top actress of the Hindi film industry in India, Katrina Kaif has sure come a long way.

As she celebrates her 29 birthday (July 16) we take a look at the actress' career graph.

Her first film was a disaster but Katrina never shied away from it and, instead, chose to rebuild her career in the Hindi film industry. She charted her way to box-office success. 

Her birth name is actually Katrina Turquotte. Katrina went to France when she was 8, and later lived in countries including Switzerland, Poland, Germany and Belgium. And in her own words almost led a life of a peripatetic.

Her parents got divorced when she was young and Katrina began modelling in Hawaii at the age of 14.

Katrina made her Bollywood debut with the 2003 film ‘Boom’, which bombed at the box office.

In 2004, she starred in the blockbuster Telugu romantic comedy ‘Malliswari’, in which she was paired opposite South superstar Venkatesh.

In 2005, Katrina made a cameo in Ram Gopal Varma's drama ‘Sarkar’ as Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend.

Her first out-and-out commercial film was ‘Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya’ which also starred her then boyfriend, Salman Khan. It is widely known that Katrina got a second chance in Bollywood only because of the influence of Salman Khan in the industry.

'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye' came in 2006 with Akshay Kumar and the two bonded well in the set.

Her association and close connect with Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan early in her career only helped her to strengthen her roots in Bollywood.

Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif worked together in films like 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye', 'Singh is Kingg', 'Namastey London', 'De Dana Dan' and 'Welcome', 'Tees Maar Khan' apart from Kaif’s cameo in Akshay’s film 'Blue'.

At one point of time Katrina dated Salman Khan. She spoke to a daily in India and said, "Salman has been the person who has definitely had the greatest influence on me. I wouldn't specify his influence in terms of this or that. It is just that we became friends and I got to know his family when I was 17. And due to the time that those years had in my life and the fact that it was the early stage of my career, he influenced me a lot. He is a very strong person and has a lot of opinions and interesting view and outlook in life."

Even though Salman is a closed chapter for Katrina now, last year they gave one of the highest Box-Office grosser 'Ek Tha Tiger'.

Katrina Kaif made some special appearances in films like 'Bodyguard' (again starring Salman) and 'Agneepath'. Her song 'Chikni Chameli' from 'Agneepath' topped the music charts for long time and is still popular on music channels and radio stations.

2009 exit Salman and enters Ranbir Kapoor. She was seen with the gen-next star, whom she is currently dating, in ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’ (2009) and ‘Rajneeti’.

In 2010 'Tees Maar Khan' was a disaster but Katrina became a craze after her scintillating dance performance in the item number "Sheila Ki Jawani".

With 'Rajneeti' in same year, Katrina tried to act hoping to be noted as an actress rather than just being the eye-candy.

'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' in 2011 gave her the much needed confidence as the American-Indian Laila. But she had very little to do in the film.

Katrina has always been lucky to have acted with established actors and bigger banners - having good looks pays after all.

Having delivered hits like 'Ek Tha Tiger' and 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan', Katrina Kaif is certainly at the top of her game with highly anticipated blockbusters like 'Bang Bang' and 'Dhoom:3' coming up.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.