India’s Barbie

Bollywood queen: ‘I want to act with everyone I have not had an opportunity to work with,’ says Katrina Kaif.

MOVE over Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. There is a new contender for the throne of Bollywood’s reigning queen.

British-Indian model-turned-actress Katrina Kaif has gone, in seven years, from a nobody to the babe who launched a thousand billboards.

She is the face of India’s first Barbie doll, which goes into production in September this year. The 24-year-old beat Aishwarya to the contract.

Getting the Barbie contract is only one in a recent string of successes for this actress who knows what she wants out of her career and her life.

She was voted the most popular Bollywood celebrity in Google’s 2008 India Zeitgeist list and FHM India named her the sexiest woman in the world.

Katrina is Bollywood’s flavour of the season because she spells box-office gold. Her two comedies with Akshay Kumar have turned the duo into Bollywood’s golden couple. Their first film, Namastey London, made over 370mil rupees (RM26.4mil) and their winning partnership continued with Welcome, which made 760mil rupees (RM54.2mil) in 2007.

They beat their own record with the superhit Singh Is Kinng last year. The movie, which had one of the biggest openings in India, made a record US$29mil (RM102mil) worldwide.

Katrina agrees that she has great onscreen chemistry with Akshay.

“He is a very hardworking person. I have learnt most of my work ethic from him. It is not just about showing up on set on time, it is also about the dedication you give to each film and he gives himself fully to each film he works on.”

You get to see that dedication in Katrina too.

On set, she is a true professional. She shows up early, works through her lines and gives the director exactly what he wants.

On the first day of the shoot for De Dana Dhan at Clarke Quay in Singapore recently, the 1.74m-tall actress is dressed in a little black dress that makes heads turn. It is an incredibly hot day but she keeps her cool, aided by a man who is holding an umbrella over her.

During a break in filming, she talks of her career plans with savviness.

“I want to act with everyone I have not had an opportunity to work with. I want to act with Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham,” she names all the big male stars in Bollywood.

For the moment though, it is De Dana Dan, which she calls “a laugh-a-minute comedy of errors.”

But she is ready for more challenging roles, having signed on for Rajniti (Politics), a political thriller to be directed by Prakash Jha, who is known for his strong socio-political films.

Indian directors love her combination of fair skin and classic Indian features, which she inherited from her Kashmiri father and English mother.

Her first movie was the disastrous crime caper Boom (2003), in which she played one of the three models who steal a stash of diamonds from gangsters. In one steamy scene, she stripped down to her bra, shocking the conservative Indian audience.

Since then, she has carefully reinvented herself as the sweet girl you can take home to your mother, and the audience has loved it.

And she carefully maintains that image, never once letting her guard down during the course of the interview.

“I was a little unsure and quite lost when I started off in the industry. I have been very blessed by God and I have been supported by so many wonderful people,” she says.

Speaking of her early days in India, she recalls how tough it was. “When I first landed in Mumbai, I couldn’t even speak Hindi. I took Hindi lessons. The grammar was tough, but I picked it up.”

While she is open when it comes to talking about her career, she declines to answer questions about her personal life, including her on-off relationship with actor Salman Khan.

But when talking about Singapore, she lights up immediately: “I love it here. You have great food, lovely spas and fantastic shopping.

“I’ve joined a gym here. I have a great trainer, an ex-army guy who is knocking me into shape. When I’m not filming, I try and relax by going for a massage.

“But that is very difficult for me because I am a hyperactive person.”

Source : The Star