Katrina on Fimfare Cover - Page 2

Katrina Kaif on her career moves, Salman and What makes her angry. Filmfare is all ears

Romance is the brew that wakes her up these days. What she'd like most to be part of is an epic romance right now.But she is in no hurry to disown her past. The kind of movies she's already done. Instead she says that making successful commercial films is harder than a script or a performance based film. "I'll never belittle those films. Singh Is Kinng, Partner and Welcome have made me what I am today. Yes you have to experiment with who you are, what you are? But I don't want to jump from the North Pole to the South Pole."

She cuts short my argument that she's doing Raajneeti to be taken seriously as an actress. "People say that Raajneeti is different," she trills. "But I signed Raajneeti when I was right in the middle of doing commercial films. I signed it in that head space. And not now when as you say I need to do different films. And I did it because I felt it's such an entertaining film, not a laugh riot. But it's such a gripping, dramatic film like The Godfather or The Departed. Those are big commercial films, they entertain people. That's what I thought about Raajneeti too. I didn't think oh now I want to prove my acting by wearing a sari and no make-up."

Recently she walked out of Anurag Basu's film despite the fact that she wants to work with him desperately. Life definitely came full circle when the director approached her for the film. Incidentally, she was slated to do Anurag's Saaya all those years ago. But she was rejected.

"Mahesh Bhatt said no. It was more his decision than Anurag's, I guess," she laughs about it today but at that point she was really heart broken. "I thought that was it for me. And now after five years he came to me again. It felt nice. "And yet she chose not to do the film. Why? "Sometimes you just have to make a decision that's right for you. And I don't think this is the film that we're meant to do together. I hope we do another film together though."

I shift gears at this point. And broach the topic of Salman Khan. Their relationship has provided enough fodder for gossip mills. Reliable sources tell us that the couple has gone their separate ways long since. Of course, neither of them has either confirmed or denied the news. "Salman is the person for whom I have the utmost respect," she says candidly. "Because of the equation that we've had, I look up to him. He's far more to me than just a friend. I don't think I'm going to ever be comfortable talking about him in print. It's too important for me to talk about. Not that other people who do don't value their relationships, it's just that I'm not comfortable talking about it."

True. But there are stories that make her see red. Like the recent one where it was insinuated that her younger sister had starred in a blue film. Remind her about that and she sees red. "It's horrendous, despicable. That's the lowest kind of journalism that can ever be. My only regret is that I didn't pursue it in court. And the reason I didn't do it is because I didn't want my sister to be dragged through the muck even in reference. It's the only time I've ever regretted being famous. I have no mercy for those who did it especially to someone who is underage and who's not even had a boyfriend. The sad thing is that when you click on the link, you can make out that the woman is 35 years old. It's there for everyone to see. So people knew it was not true but still went ahead with the story because it was sensational. It was deplorable. And if people have any decency left, they will not bring it up again when she comes here. It's unpardonable."

Anuradha Choudhary

(For the complete interview please read issue dated 26th May, 2010)