Katrina: Boom Ki Hottie Baby Doll Se Rajniti ki Sonia Gandhi Tak

She had the natural assets to make it to the big league in Hindi film: an innocent smiling
beautiful face and a cute sexiness to her.

Yet Katrina Kaif’s initiation into Hindi films was almost a DISASTER…

Here’s how:

Boom (September 19, 200): This was her film, her debut, and she messed it up. In this
don versus models diamond heist, Katrina was seen lustily sliding towards Gulshan
Grover in nothing but a bra and skirt and finally thrusting Grover’s face into her
cleavage. Sex sells, you’d say? Nahhh, this act was a Bollywood hara kiri…

Why? Because Indian men (read South Asian men) love to see their actress purr, hiss, act
coquettish, feel coy, tempt, flirt…BUT, only for them… that in filming terms, with the
camera. FOR MY EYES ONLY experience!

If she even dares to project this aggressive and assertive female and get too close,
physically, on screen, then she is a FALLEN woman… Reject!

Katrina quickly understood that and went in for an image makeover.

Sarkar (July 1, 2005): A blink-and-you’ll-miss role where she plays Abhishek’s love
interest. That role was a total departure. She played an all-covered girl from a good
family.

Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (July 15, 2005): Katrina was then dating Salman Khan.
Naturally, boyfriend dear came to her rescue and they did films together. In this movie,
Katrina plays this really sweet and smiling girl who is so desirable that two men want
her; Salman and Sohail Khan.

Predictably for Katrina, her career got a boost and she started to ‘Just Chill, Chill, Just
Chill’

Namastey London (March 23, 2007): What definitely catapulted her into this big league
of heroines was her pairing with Akshay Kumar. After seven years in the industry, one
can say with some confidence that this was her best pairing.

With a good story (East-West culture clash), a tender love story, great chemistry,
hummable songs, great locations, and above all, an impressive acting display by Katrina
meant that Katrina was set for bigger things. She was very convincing as an NRI girl who
saw nothing wrong in studying and partying like girls in London would.

And Akshay Kumar would be her ‘Dilrooba’ in many more films. Bollywood got another
hit jodi.

Singh Is Kinng (August 8, 2008): Okay, here came the big and typical masala film with
some story, loads of comic sequences, clichéd Bollywood types like Punjab da munda,
Pind di khushboo, and good Indian family life….blar, blar, blar…but it worked
Katrina plays an aspiring detective student from a NRI single mother (married and then
with deceased husband of course). Seemingly the more sophisticated urban Syndey
Indian girl for whom the Punjab the putta, Akshay Kumar, goes crazy over. Naturally, her
Indian-ness does come to the fore eventually and they united in happy matrimony.

Loads of chemistry, comic capers, great songs all worked wonders for Katrina babe.

Race (March 21, 2008): Coming the same year as Singh is King, this Abbas Mastaan
film had little for the girls but showed her in a full on glamourous role.

Kat was on a roll…quite literally!

Welcome (December 21, 2007): Another absolutely no-brain comedy but fun all the
way! Pitching in with her glamorous, sweet and sexy image, Katrina had success written
all over.
New York (June 26, 2009): This movie saw a change of co-star. And also a sobriety and
sensitivity of portrayal for Katrina. As a wife of a 9/11 suspect and victim of racial
profiling, she gave a lot of tenderness that a role demanded.

A story that spoke of racial profiling of Muslims post 9/11, she rounded it off rather
beautifully as a grieving, loving wife of a victim.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (November 6, 2009): All right, this saw yet another
interesting pairing: Kat with Ranbir! Whao! This is interesting also because she had
previously been paired with actors much older to her. Which meant she played characters
in their mid 20s.
Here, Katrina was playing a much younger… a college kid sort off.

Katrina Kaif was by now riding a ‘Katrina Kaif’ crest. With a sweet love story, decent
comedy, greatly hummable Atif Aslam songs, the Kat wave was pretty much on course.

And now Raajneeti: This is most serious character Katrina has ever essayed in her short
career. And possibly the most demanding b’cos she plays (no less a person) than Sonia
Gandhi and her foray into Indian Politics.

By far her most challenging role… that of Anita Pratap of Raajneeti.