Cut to: Kat

Surely yoursquove seen the film Bachna Ae Haseeno 2008 ldquoIf Irsquom not mistaken it was Ranbir Kapoorrsquos second film and his first for Yash Raj Filmsrdquo Bollywood star Katrina Kaif informs usNow there were four women in that movie Three you know Bipasha Basu Deepika Padukone Minissha Lamba The fourth was KatrinaThe film was in a sense a goal unlocked for hermdashshe had been ldquovying for a Yash Raj productionrdquo for some time Except that once she met producer Aditya Chopra he said ldquoThe script was getting too longmdashso we had to snip the fourth female partrdquoKatrina recalls ldquoIt was a limited role yes But I was like you gotta be joking Shortly thereafter Aditya called me to offer another filmldquoHersquod already taken me off a big commercial release My response to the new offer wasmdashhersquos instead offering me a small artsy film with no songs scale dance and with Kabir Khan whorsquos a documentary filmmaker I was not happy about itrdquoSalman Khan convinced her to do the role He had met Kabir before discussing his debut Kabul Express 2006 and was impressed enoughmdashalthough they worked together on Ek Tha Tiger 2012 much laterThe Katrina film in question is New York 2009 a political drama set in post911 America She says ldquoI walked begrudgingly on to that set looking disdainfully in my head biting my teeth such a small crew where are the lights camerashellip I had just come off Singh is Kinng 2008 that had been so massively loved by audiencesrdquoCut to the wrapday of the filmrsquos shoot in New York and she was crying ldquoNobody wanted the shoot to end Up until this day New York remains the most amazing and eyeopening experience of my life in filmsldquoThe closest friends I have in the industry are from that film It played a bit of a role in the journey of my life thereafter Kabir gave me the confidence to have my own voice Something I hadnrsquot even consideredrdquoKaif accepts a token of our appreciation PicsSatej ShindeUntil then Katrina confesses she went by a simple Bollywood playbook on sets ldquoDo as told Quietlyrdquo If you scroll through her filmography thereafter full of male superstardriven moneyspinners otherwise you do sense a particular pivot post New YorkNext stop Prakash Jharsquos Raajneeti 2010 the Mahabharat adapted into the heartland of Indiarsquos politics ldquoI mean what an experience what a shootrdquoKatrina remembers ldquoThere was this sequence in Bhopal where my characterrsquos husband dies and I take centrestage I look before me There are 20003000 people for as long as your eyes can seeldquoIrsquom supposed to give a speech in front of them like a politician and with the filmrsquos entire cast on the podium My hands were trembling I remember Nana Patekar Sir telling me itrsquos going to be fine just go ahead and do it And it was finerdquoFrom here on we can cut further to multiple parts in Katrinarsquos thoroughly mainstream career with enough meat for her to juice out as an actor as wellmdashZoya Akhtarrsquos ensemble roadtrip Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara 2011 easily my favourite to Bharat 2019 a synchronous history of contemporary India told through the lives of its protagonists with Katrina paired opposite SalmanBut she wants to zeroin instead on Aanand L Rairsquos Zero 2018 TIL Before Shah Rukh Khan SRK got onboard that picture it was titled Katrina Meri Jaan with Katrina playing a double roleWell to clarify ldquoThat was a different script It changed thereafter But when Anand Sir was narrating me this new script to play Babita Kumari my ears and eyes kept perking up to the other female role of Afiya suffering from cerebral palsyldquoAnand Sir said he had someone else in mind for it I went home that day and recorded an audition tape on my iPhone for the part I went back and showed him the recording on my laptop It really moved him That gave me hope and we kept circling on it for daysldquoI was so attached to the part eventually played by Anushka Sharma that I couldnrsquot even care if there was anything good in what was being offered to meldquoIt was Shah Rukh who said I was getting too emotionally attached and that I should trust him and do the film Thatrsquos how I got a chance to do Babita Itrsquos one of the best roles Irsquove ever donerdquoThese intercuts into some of Katrinarsquos more challenging parts are essential If only to explain how shersquos delivered arguably her finest role in films thus farThat of Maria in Sriram Raghavanrsquos Merry Christmas 2024 squarely shouldering a tough tight plot primarily set in a South Bombay apartment flitting between a couple of male characters while the camera stays on her almost throughout a stunningly claustrophobic murder mysteryIt is in many ways a culmination of sorts The person yoursquod instantly think of in that role is probably Tabu Katrina agrees ldquoI think Tabu is fabulous anyway But I loved her in Raghavanrsquos AndhadunrdquoThat said when Sriram and his cowriter editor Pooja Ladha Surti first narrated Merry Christmas to Katrina she found herself asking several questions to do with the motivations of her character ldquoItrsquos at the end of this meeting Sriram Sir said I should write the backstory of Mariamdashoh no wait itrsquos been a while it wasnrsquot himldquoAfter that narration I actually wrote down Mariarsquos backstory on my own at home This was during the lockdown I emailed it to him and he loved it We achieved a more indepth story based on that Hersquos the kind of filmmaker who gives you that spacerdquoAnd yet if you go through a series of interviews with Katrina before the release of Merry Christmas she appears to repeat one aspect of her time filming the suspensedramamdashthat she was crying so much before and during the filmmaking Strangely none of the interviewers seem to ask her why Sounds awfulmdashwhy would she have to cry so muchKatrina laughs ldquoSome of the crying during the shoot was part of the scriptrdquo Clearly thatrsquos not all Letrsquos revisit the timeline again then ldquoFirstly there was a major time gap from the narration to when the film went on floors which was literally three and half weeks after I got married to actor Vicky KaushalldquoYoursquore in this celebratory jubilant space There was COVID in between All I wanted to do was spend time with my husband that we hadnrsquot had togetherldquoSince Irsquom obsessed with my work diving into this intense and darker film was getting difficult In my head I wasnrsquot in that zone But once you realise itrsquos happening you just have to dive into the deep endrdquoKatrina Kaif in New York Merry Christmas and Tiger 3The other thing Katrina confesses she has is a loosely streaming sense of ldquoselective memoryrdquo ldquoNow Sriram Sir had told me and this got reconfirmed by my managermdashbut I had totally passed it over my headmdashthat we had to shoot the film separately in Tamil as wellldquoOne of those things about ignorance being bliss but it can land you in trouble Even Sriram Sir hesitated from bringing it up until four days before he had to remind me to start the filmrsquos sequences in Tamil after shooting in Hindi ldquoI tried to convince him not to do it I went so far as asking him to cast another actress for the Tamil partrdquo Why so scared ldquoIrsquoll tell you why if this was any other filmmdashtake my last four releasesmdashdoing it in Tamil all over would be fineldquoBut this is a very conversational film There are scenes where there are 15 minutes of only dialogue That much of talking when it has to happen again in Tamil is different Thatrsquos when the tears startedldquoThe tears of quietness before that were for the Hindi portions Three days I cried a lot I was working myself up as well My Tamil dialogue coach Deepa Venkat came in to drop the stress lsquoThe moment you hear action do not think force yourself trust what happensrdquoIrsquove watched the Hindi and Tamil versions of Merry Christmas Shersquos pulled off both breezily looking equally effortlessFor most Indians the mental imageportrait likely to emerge once they hear the name Katrina Kaif is likely to be the unabashed dancing queen from Chikni chameli or Sheela ki jawani aimed at the nationrsquos front rows looking for carefree lsquopaisavasoolrsquo entertainmentIn 2009 Leo Mattel modelled the Indian Barbie on the 10on10 Katrina with a tote bag then in her mid20s Shersquos been at the top of Bollywood blockbuster scene for two decadesYet if you sit down to casually chitchat cinema series etcmdashher eclectic palette could surprise you sometimesFor instance in a clip sent over to me by a friend before I meet Katrina for this edition of Sit With Hitlist shersquos seated with Vijay Sethupathi her Tamil costar from Merry Christmasmdashcasually talking up Vijayrsquos films Super Deluxe 2019 and 96 2018Both movies would be considered prohibitively avantgarde by desicommercial standards Is that the lsquoVicky Kaushalrsquo effect on her I gently teasemdashreferring to how her husband who made his debut with Neeraj Ghaywanrsquos Masaan 2015 could be exposing her to another world within Indian cinemaQuick to respond she says ldquoAs a wife I do pull Vickyrsquos leg about how hersquos such an arthouse film buff And hersquos of course totally in tune with all the latest shows and films and whatrsquos being made Thatrsquos where he comes fromrdquoBut no so far as the film 96 is concerned ldquoI got to see it because I was approached for its Hindi remakerdquo Super Deluxe is her latenight OTT as with any other moviebingerEven as an actor Katrina says ldquoItrsquos not like Irsquove lived in my own different land Irsquove always been in touch with all other cinemasldquoFor example Dibakar Banerjeersquos films Itrsquos another matter that a film together couldnrsquot work out That was because of me And thatrsquos destiny But wersquove been in touch Until about a year and half ago I was regularly meeting director Vasan Bala discussing ideasrdquoEither way whatrsquos undeniable with any relationship let alone marriage is how one tends to inevitably expand interests and friendsrsquo circles as a result of the partner With Vicky they got married in December 2021 Katrina says itrsquos been more with the meeting of large familiesldquoI have six sisters He has a huge family still back in Punjab Besides he has a large circle of friends from collegemdashI think about 20 of them Some of whom live in New York so we meet them when wersquore therehelliprdquoVickyrsquos father Sham Kaushal is of course an old Bollywood handmdashone of the cityrsquos top action directors over decades whorsquos equally straddled multiple movie universes within Mumbai from Black Friday 2004 to Krrish 3 2013Once you probe further you realise Katrina isnrsquot as hung up in her head over offstream and mainstreammdashthe distinction isnrsquot as marked or she hasnrsquot cared to creatively define itFor instance she says ldquoI want to portray myself in a new way now I donrsquot wish to repeat myself too much In several scenarios I myself feel repetitive and bored Irsquom pretty sure the audiences will too Irsquom no more the 19yearold who entered this industryrdquoAt the same time shersquos clear her big 2023 release Tiger 3 the commercial hattrick instalment of the Salman blastfest checks all of those novelty boxes ldquoTiger 3 belongs to the amazing franchisemdashthe space that gives me joyldquoItrsquos not repetitive at all I found the way director Maneesh Sharma explored lead character Zoyarsquos backstory was really brave within an action blockbuster Thatrsquos a side of me close to my heartmdashI love the female action genrerdquoLikewise with dance she adds ldquoWhen I walked into Dhoom 3 those songs and dancing to them as a circus performer looking athleticmdashthatrsquos been my dream and passion maybe itrsquos not someone elsersquos Rehearsals in those dance halls is my solace Thatrsquos who I amrdquoThe film New York indeed provided her a fresher ldquomilieurdquo but the film that brought her up to skill as an actor a gamechanger of sorts she reasons was Vipul Shahrsquos Namastey London 2007 ldquoEven though it was comical with a romcom tone to it it was such a great character and story Not the typical eas meets WestrdquoIn Namastey London Katrina paired opposite Akshay Kumar the other costar besides Salman shersquos delivered a string of roaring commercial successes withShe thinks shersquos done more films with Akshay than Salman starting to count them on her fingertips while this can be googled in a second Quick search results in a tie Salman 7 Akshay 7Besides the obvious longevity of their respective careersmdashboth Salman and Akshay have been maxing mainstream boxoffice for over three decadesmdashsomething she can lay claim to herself I ask Katrina to decode these two superstars in terms of how different they are to be on set with as actorsShe says ldquoItrsquos just the morning and night thingmdashwho you see more daylight with With Akshay a morning person I just have to request him for a later calltime on the set With Salman itrsquos the oppositeldquoI have to ask Salman lsquoPlease come early norsquo That apart theyrsquore two totally different individuals While it doesnrsquot look it Salman is always thinking of the larger story of a film rather than the scene at hand alone With Akshay therersquos a lot more improvisationrdquoEither way her own riffing off the actorsrsquo energies on shoot doesnrsquot change ldquoIrsquom not focused on what my coactor is doing I come prepared to the set Thatrsquos what I do on my own And then I incorporate that with the director and coactorrdquoTo be honest I tell Katrina I was a little apprehensive myself stepping into this interview Not for the lack of prep of course And shersquos perfectly genial even genuinely happygoofy to converse withItrsquos just that she may not be the most giving of all interviewees when it comes to delving further into her life outside films or her world before filmsEven as the intention isnrsquot to pry on a private life only to shine a better torch on a public figure And so be it A decade ago I tell her I had been commissioned by Caravan a magazine of longform journalism to write a 7000word piece way over twice the size of this profile on KatrinaI was drawing a complete blank for days Choosing therefore to fill up the space with more of contextsetting insteadmdashhistory of AngloIndians in Bollywood shift from silent cinema to talkies the anatomy of the Hindi film dance a growing expat subculture of heroines in desimainstream etcWhile I had chatted with Katrina for a few hours for the piece there were no expository personal anecdotes at all I had asked her then if I could speak to her British mother Suzanne Turquotte about her growing up years She texted back ldquoCould we rather notrdquo Totally respect that of courseYet for a desi popculture story there is none that matches Katrinarsquos scalemdashfor someone who landed in Bombay from London in her late teens with a friendHad only watched one Bollywood film SRKstarrer Asoka 2001 until she made her own film debut a couple of years later She knew no one in town upon arrival She knew not a word of Hindi before aspiring to be the quintessential Hindi film heroine and inching towards the topspot soon afterNo seriously how Letrsquos attempt a stepbystep still Even before she got a movie gig Katrina had landed a contract with LrsquoOreal which means she was a successful model already But she says ldquoMy heart was always here in films I donrsquot know howrdquo Target set surely what followed was perseveranceShe says she would start her day at 6 am to attend kathak classes until noon in a ldquosmall nonAC room with Guruji Veeru KrishnanmdashPriyanka Chopra Lara Dutta were the seniors in classrdquoWith Hindi actor Jackie Shroff advised her to master the Devnagari script ldquoOn the set those days often yoursquod be handed the dialogues right before shoot I didnrsquot want to be in a position where Irsquom wondering what to do The base in Devnagari saved me There is then nothing complex in the learning of the languagerdquoBut beyond all of the above it was as Katrina puts it ldquoNaivete and innocence of the times Barely at 17 I saw nothing as difficult back thenldquoToday I would say impossible to the same things Which is strange I guess thatrsquos what happens when you have nothing to lose At this point of course I have other goalsmdashbut Irsquove achieved all that Irsquod set out to do Yet criticism would hurt and affect me far moreWhen she was starting out though ldquoAn instance I remember from a South Indian film with Venkatesh Malliswari 2024mdash I was shooting a song and there was someone on the set yelling lsquoThis girl canrsquot dancersquo Irsquove had people telling me to my face lsquoYou will not make it You wonrsquot succeedrsquoldquoSomehow I wasnrsquot pained Never felt sensitive about it For me it was about taking in the info It didnrsquot penetrate me to stopldquoI would sit and cry but believe in the process in the healthiest way work a little harder to perfect my craft Eventually I worked with all those same people who said lsquoWe wonrsquot take you in our filmsrsquordquoIn Bollywood David Dhawanrsquos Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya 2005 was her second film and her first hit Ram Gopal Varmarsquos Sarkar must count as a cameoShe debuted disastrously with Kaizad Gustadrsquos Boom 2003 the yearrsquos most anticipated moviemdashalbeit a film so deliciously bad that it must rank up there among the greatsAs always bad movies make for the most fun reviewsmdashessentially standup comedy on textprint That review fetched me the job as a permanent film critic I tell Katrina offrecord Unwittingly I owe her onePractically everyone involved with Boom pelted eggs on it in public postrelease Not sure about Bo Derek also in the cast certainly Amitabh Bachchan also Salman Rushdie his girlfriend then Padma Lakshmi was in the film Katrina hasnrsquot said a word on it since And she continues to maintain that stony silence Respect her choice of courseWas it Tolstoy who roughly said a great story is one of two thingsmdasha man sets off on a journey or a stranger comes to town Katrina is both those splendid storiesI offer an unsolicited advicemdashthat she should someday write that story Totally unfiltered just the way she saw it with all those things shersquos kept to herself sinceShe says ldquoNo thank you Letrsquos leave some things unwritten What I want said is the work I have done and the work that I hope to leave behindrdquo