EXCLUSIVE | Salman Khan on 'Tiger 3' co-star Katrina Kaif: 'There was a time she was weak in Hindi and dancing and now…'

Salman Khan has all the reasons to cheer and clap for himself and the entire team of his recent success Tiger 3, which released on a Sunday on the occasion of Diwali. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, he spoke about the franchise, working with Katrina Kaif, and how she has evolved as an actor in these 18 years. Edited excerpts from the interview When you started shooting for Ek Tha Tiger in 2011, did you imagine this would turn into a franchise? We did know this character had the potential to be made again and again, but we didn’t think at that point of them while we were making it until it was accepted by fans and the audiences. It was only after they liked the film that we thought we should go ahead and make a sequel. What do you have to say about the growth of Katrina Kaif as an actress? She’s a hardworking girl, she has been giving her 100% ever since she has started. She has really really really worked hard to reach where she has today. There was a time when she couldn’t even speak one word of Hindi and now she can speak the language fluently. I remember she was weak in dancing and today, she’s one of best dancers that we have today in the industry. She works with a lot of tenacity on her body, her dialogues, her performances, her diction. She’s one of the hardest working actresses that I have met in this industry. Which are some of your films that can have a sequel? If I had to do sequels, I can do a sequel to Bodyguard, a sequel to Ready, Tiger is already happening, Dabangg is also happening, Prem is a character that has been going on forever. I feel really fortunate that I have been able to do these kind of films. If Satish Kaushik was alive today, we would’ve done Tere Naam 2 as well. God bless his soul. This is the first time you are working with Emraan Hashmi . How do you see your face-off with the actor who plays the antagonist of the story? As an actor, he’s very effective in Tiger, he was amazing. It’s very difficult to match up to a character like Tiger but he did it easily and successfully.