Katrina Kaif: The Barbie doll who came into her own

Katrina Kaif is a very private person. In order to seem gregarious in her social circle or camera-friendly on celluloid, she had to work really hard to shed her inhibitions. Katrina’s struggle started in 2000 when she arrived in Mumbai. She came to Mumbai to be a model. She had no inkling at that point of time that she was going to be an actress. Katrina first met photographer Farrokh Chothia who put her on to the right modeling agencies. Soon the modeling assignments began to trickle in. As she once told me laughingly, she was soaping her face while people watched the soaps on television. Katrina was also introduced to glam-photographer Daboo Ratnani who did her portfolio Ratnani’s photographs were circulated in the film industry. Soon Katrina landed with her first film project. When she did Boom in 2003 she was clueless about her intentions, camera angles, language, the works. Katrina’s film career started with Ram Gopal Varma ’s _Sarkar_ in 2005 followed by Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya . That’s when her real initiation into acting began. Katrina was getting bored with modeling and ramp walking. She sensed she had reached a saturation point there, and needed to move on. In Mahesh Bhatt ’s _Saaya_ Katrina was replaced by Tara Sharma because of her poor Hindi. This is when Salman Khan took charge. He took Katrina to meet his dear friend Sanjay Leela Bhansali and did everything in his power to convince the epic director that he was the best Mastani while Salman, was the best Bajirao. Bhansali remained unconvinced. Katrina’s real debut was Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, a project put together by Salman Khan to launch Katrina in style. There were two heroines opposite Salman: Sushmita Sen and Katrina. Katrina was treated like a royal princess on the set by everyone. At that point of time the way to Salman’s heart was through Katrina. In her first 15 films in Bollywood, Katrina’s voice was dubbed by a professional dubbing artiste Mona Ghosh Shetty. In 2008 she dubbed her own lines for the first time in Kabir Khan’s hard-hitting anti-terror drama _New York_ . Ever since then, Kabir has remained a close friend of the actress. She thinks Kabir brought out the best in her. Kabir thinks she has plenty of latent potential. Katrina describes her early days in Mumbai as lonely. To begin with she lived in a two-bedroom flat near Rizvi College in Bandra, Mumbai. The entire day she visited modeling agencies. In the evening she returned home to a lonely house. She would miss her sisters’ presence around her. Initially, Katrina was not bothered with her lack of Hindi. In any case, everyone in the modeling world spoke English, so that wasn’t a problem. But the oglers were a nuisance. Because she came from London she dressed in a certain casual way that was not quite acceptable in Mumbai. Katrina had to change the way she dressed. She also hired a tutor named Mohit to teach her Hindi. She learnt Kathak from a guru recommended by filmmaker Dharmesh Darshan. Both Priyanka Chopra and I learnt classical Indian dancing from the same man. One of the main reasons why she wholeheartedly embraced Salman Khan’s family was because they provided her with a comfort zone in a city where she was all alone. Katrina’s bonding with Salman’s family goes beyond the fair-weather relationships of the entertainment industry. The Khans really welcomed Katrina into their family. Katrina admits Salman Khan helped her to find her bearings in Mumbai. Katrina once told me, “He guided me, helped me choose the right roles and to find my place in Mumbai. He was there for me constantly. With Salman and his family around I never felt alone in Mumbai.” I am so happy for Katrina that she has finally found love and togetherness in Vicky Kaushal . All she ever wanted was a home, a marriage and children. She was more than willing to give up her career be a good Kapoor daughter-in-law. But God and Ranbir Kapoor had other plans. Why do the most beautiful women fall for men who do not deserve them? I asked Zeenat Aman that once. Come to think of it, Katrina shares many similarities with Zeenat: the mixed parentage, the accented Hindi (though Zeenat speaks much better Hindi than Katrina), the mentor factor (Salman for Katrina, Dev Anand for Zeenat) and most importantly, the killer instinct.Zeenat was told she can’t dance. She drenched herself in a seductive rain and danced like a dream for Manoj Kumar in Hai hai yeh majboori. Similarly challenged, Katrina set the screen on fire with Chikni chameli. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.