Katrina Kaif: A film career on the rise

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif is a picture of charm and confidence. Lately she has been in the news for her roles in “Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya”, “Namastey London” and “Singh is Kinng”. Coming up now are “Blue”, “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazal Kahani”, “De Dana Dan”, “Rajneeti” and “Padosan (remake)”.
Born on July 16, 1984, Katrina has had an eventful career in films. The Hong Kong born British-Indian actress and model first appeared in Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films. Her film career took off in 2007 when she starred in several commercially successful films, which launched her as one of the most popular actresses in Bollywood.
Katrina's work as a model in London led to her discovery by filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a role in his film, titled “Boom” (2003). On her move to Mumbai, she was offered a number of modelling assignments though her film career did not take off since she was unable to speak Hindi.
The tide turned for Katrina in 2005 when she played a brief role in the film “Sarkar”, as Abishek Bachchan's girlfriend. The next successful film was “Main Pyaar Kiya” (2005) where she paired opposite Salman Khan. The film earned her many accolades and she earned an award at the Stardust Award for breakthrough female performance.
In 2007, she appeared in the hit movie “Namstey London”.
Then followed box office hits such as “Apne”, “Partner” and “Welcome”. The year 2008 proved a watershed when she played a negative role for the first time in Abass-Mustan's hit action thriller titled “Race” where she played the role of Saif Ali Khan's secretary who is secretly in love with is hostile stepbrother, ably played by Akshay Khanna.
Next followed the famous “Sing is Kinng”, Anees Bazmi's box office super hit. This time she was cast against Akshay Kumar for the fourth time.
Her fourth release of the year was Subhash Ghai's “Yuvraj”, which was regarded widely as mediocre. Her first release for 2009 was “ New York ”, where she featured with John Abraham. This film proved a critical and commercial success. “ New York ” was made with a budget of $ 4.6 million. The film was based on the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks and stars Katrina and John Abraham in the lead roles.
Katrina has made ripples in the media: She was voted Asia's sexiest woman in 2008 and also the most searched celebrity on Google. Recently she has been seen in reality show “10 Ka Dum” along with Neil Nitin Mukesh for the promotion of her film “ New York ”. She also appeared on the singing talent show “ Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” with Salman Khan to promote her film “Yuvraaj”. And that's not all: She is the model for Mattel's Bollywood Barbie, to be released in September this year.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent