There are no camps in Bollywood: Katrina Kaif

The young actor has signed two films opposite rival actors Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan.

MUMBAI:

Katrina Kaif’s decision to do two Yash Raj Films (YRF) with warring Khans — Salman and Shah Rukh — has raised eyebrows, but the actor is unperturbed and argues there are no camps in Bollywood.

Katrina is set to start shooting with Salman Khan for Ek Tha Tiger next week and her film with Shah Rukh, which is veteran direcor Yash Chopra’s untitled venture, is expected to go on floors in a few months’ time.

“There is a problem; the misconception that the media has that there is a camp system. We all have different equations — friendly, not so friendly — but everyone respects the other’s individuality. There are really no camps or something like that,” Kaif told IANS in an interview.

New York was the actor’s first film with YRF and after that she signed on to do Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and now the two films with the two Khans.

Glimpses of Kaif’s rock star look in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, where she will be seen puffing a bidi and strumming a guitar in tattered jeans and T-shirt, have created ripples of excitement among her followers. The actor explains her new look as her endeavour to offer something fresh in each film; to avoid being boringly predictable.

“Small things make the difference. I am doing two films a year, and if I show something, which is a little different from the previous film, then the audience doesn’t get bored,” said the 27-year-old, who has been part of the industry for eight years now. “If I can improve 15 per cent with each film or add something with every film, then people will not have the impression that I am not working hard.”

To bring reality to her character, the actor learned to play guitar and her knowledge about the instrument helped her portray the character of a rock singer more convincingly in the film. “I am learning the guitar. For an actor it’s really easy to be a rock star; wear some boots, wear some jeans, wear kajal, dishevel your hair, hold a guitar and strum the strings. I can actually hold the guitar right as I know how to play it,” said Kaif.

The directorial debut of Ali Abbas Zafar, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is a romantic comedy where Imran Khan and Pakistani singer-turned-actor Ali Zafar play leads opposite Kaif. She revealed that the film has a close resemblance to film-maker Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1975 classic comedy Chupke Chupke that boasts amazing performances by Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Asrani and Om Prakash.

The actor, who has so far made a successful on-screen duo with Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, believes that Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is the right film to collaborate with Khan. “It’s a romantic comedy, very exaggerated and is the tongue-in-cheek kind. For Imran and me, it was a very new space. We didn’t know each other well (before the film) and there had to be fine-tuning, which eventually helped us to get into the characters that we are playing.”

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is set to hit the theatres on September 9.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2011.