Star sense

(Sometimes the unexpected is more fun than doing what everyone knows you do. I wrote this for a newly launched film magazine. And quite enjoyed the process!)

She could have been voted Least Likely to Succeed, especially with the odds stacked against her. She was first noticed in India as a model, the face of a popular Indian cosmetic brand, but had the looks not often seen in Bollywood – pale skin, ‘foreign’ features, a well-rounded figure and a height that tended to dwarf the often shorter heroes reigning at the time. She also spoke severely accented Hindi, when she spoke it at all, was diplomatic to the point of being boring, she was all angles and jerky movements when it came to dancing filmi-ishtyle, and she had no godfather to cushion her against box-office disaster. And that came with her first film. Katrina Kaif’s Bollywood debut was made in Kaizad Gustad’s Boom, a film that not only crashed commercially and critically, but also had the potential to see that she never worked in Mumbai’s filmbiz again. She explains her debut with: “I was very young when I did the film and when you are young it is fairly easy to get swayed. I don't think there was a major disaster and I most definitely didn't have to fight my way back.”

Katrina showed that she was made of sterner stuff. She managed to pull herself out of the debacle of Boom – while Padma Lakshmi and Madhu Sapre more or less gave up – and found herself work as the highest paid debutant in the world of Telugu movies, with two films giving her a measure of success and basic training on how to be a star. She was determined to make it, since she believed that she could give herself and her family the stability and economic status she wanted. Today, with two homes in Mumbai and one in London, with a financial cushion that is the envy of many of her peers, Katrina is one of the highest paid heroines in Bollywood and can hold her own not only as a solo female lead, but also in the market as the USP of a film. And even as journalists work hard to colour her with scandal and controversy, she has been able to maintain the image of being hardworking, single-minded and politically correct almost to a fault. In fact, she produces boring sound bytes, no spice, no gossip value, no snipes at her colleagues, a possible complete washout for any magazine interview, except for her stupendous rise in the film world and her winsome charm as a young woman with looks, brains and a smile to match.

Katrina is a product of the union of Mohammad Kaif, a Kashmiri Muslim, and Suzanne, an Englishwoman. One of six sisters and with one brother, she has not had any contact with her father since she was very young and has no memory of him and no desire to talk about him either. Her mother, a former lawyer who speaks five languages, according to reports, now works with a charity in Madurai, and has taken her children with her wherever she travelled to – the Far East, Europe, America and South Africa. With this ever-changing base, Katrina became a hoarder, of memories, of toys, of everything she acquired. And she also acquired a strength of character that allowed her to be unflappable, unfazed by anything that she has experienced, be it the whimsical world of movies she now finds herself reigning in, or the intrusive questions of reporters who want to know more than there actually is to the public personality that is Katrina Kaif.

Along the way, she also learned how to choose the right projects to be associated with. Always remembered by the media as a girl from Boom, she was soon linked with Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan, still a very powerful albeit not-too-frequent presence in the filmi world. Discretion has always been Katrina’s strong point and with her personal life, a staunch silence is maintained. In fact, she has never admitted to the relationship, though Salman recently told his audience – in a television game show he hosted and in press interviews - that he plans to marry soon and Katrina will be the woman he weds. She herself is diplomatic about it, as always, saying that “These decisions are not in our hands. God has plans for each of us and I am sure he has a good one for me. All I know is that I am happy with where I am right now.” Trouble and gossip are something she steers carefully away from, not even commenting on the fracas between Salman and Shah Rukh Khan at her birthday party a few months ago.

Their first film together was Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, with Sushmita Sen adding weight to a production that didn’t do especially well. More happened, including Subhash Ghai’s Yuvraaj. Salman is said to give her advice and provide her with valuable contacts and, before her success graph turned upwards, a big boost with various filmmakers who owed him. But Katrina denies that without referring to the actor in any way. “No. A lot of people gave advice, some of which I did follow judiciously. I cannot discount the people who have been around me giving me overall guidance.” She also insists that there has been no strategy , “except to do what your heart tells you to do”, in getting to the stage at which she is now in her career.

But there was a definite point at which that elusive spotlight suddenly focused on her. Katrina agrees that it came with “most definitely and undoubtedly, Namastey London”, her first film with Akshay Kumar. As the box office rang up profits, producers lined up to sign the couple on, to the point that there were rumours about a real-life romance between them, with Akshay’s wife Twinkle objecting strongly to his signing on more projects with the two of them together. Katrina dismisses the possibility of any such relationship and has said frankly that she agrees to do any movie starring Akshay without too much thought, since the actor seems to know almost instinctively which project to choose and, to make it even better, every choice is practically guaranteed to work much better than well.

To get where she is now, and as a strong contender for the top spot in the firmament of heroines, Katrina does not believe that she has faced any problems worth speaking of. She says, “To be honest, there weren't pitfalls or tribulations for me in my journey to this place I am now in. It was slow but steady and I think I have managed fairly well and have stood my ground all the way through.” Hard work is a huge part of the rise; the once-derided accent has gradually given way to fluency in Hindi and she has started dubbing for herself instead of needing a voice-double. Her initial awkwardness at the typically Bollywood jhatkas and matkas has been honed into sensuous grace with Kathak lessons and now Katrina is a standard star-act in any awards ceremony, with a number of ‘hit songs’ to her solo credit.

Somewhere along the way, whether bolstered by Salman or riding on the Akshay wave, Katrina has mastered the art of picking the right film. She did a cameo in Sarkar and was noticed. Her guest appearance on the popular television show Baa Bahoo aur Baby, though part of the promotional campaign for Singh is Kinng, shot the TRPs of the serial up, higher than ever. In spite of all that, in spite of the seemingly well-calculated career moves and strategies that any wannabe star would envy, Katrina avers that she has really planned nothing. Any ‘strategy’ that she has in choosing work is plain common sense. “When a particular film is offered to me, the biggest question I ask myself is if I would watch it myself. If the answer is a vehement yes, I do the film.”

That has certainly paid off and Katrina has learned to be a little more savvy about professional commitments. With a certain measure of economic stability giving her a new freedom, she has started working on what she is not sure of as far as sure-shot success goes, having some fun on the way. As she says, “Of course, I am today being a little less cautious and taking on films which interest me for other factors as well. For instance, Prakash Jha's Rajneeti is a genre I haven't really attempted in my short Bollywood career. But he is a director whose sensibilities I admire and that in itself was reason enough to give it a go-ahead.” Does anyone or anything influence the direction she takes? Katrina is, as always, non-committal and tactful. “I think the film industry itself is a strong enough influence. Whether you take it as a collective force, coming together to entertain the audience or as each individual who adds his/ her sweat and blood to make the collective force stronger... I don't think there is any bigger influence than that.”

With success often comes a crash of sorts. A number of sudden leaps up the Bollywood ladder have side-effects and fallouts, like weight gain, arrogance, a casual attitude and worse. But for Katrina, that need to be the ‘man’ of her family with total control over her own life has given her a drive that persists, even in the ephemeral world she inhabits today. There is more pressure than ever to maintain the position she has attained, but she manages to keep her sense of balance, her grace, her objectivity of choice of project, in spite of the hype and ever-present spotlight. Her perspective is simple: “There is pressure for sure and it is difficult to make the right choices all the time. You just make your choice, give it your 200 per cent and leave the rest in God's hands.”

After all, Katrina Kaif knows full well what has given her the power to be in the position she is in as part of the great Indian movie machine. Apart from talent and drive, “God's blessings, hard work and the ability to look at the larger picture.”