Katrina Kaif on Buzzinebollywood.com

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Katrina Kaif on Buzzinebollywood.com

FILM INTERVIEW: KATRINA KAIF

Leading Bollywood Actress Begins Khan Campaign

By: Simran Mody
September 7, 2011

Bollywood superstar actress Katrina Kaif may have the letter “K” leading her first and last names, but it is the other “K” surname -- Khan -- that has her head spinning. For starters, she adamantly believes that Imran Khan (Delhi Belly), her co-star in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, closely resembles Aamir Khan (Imran is, coincidentally, Aamir’s nephew). As if she needed any more Khans in her life, Ms. Kaif has already committed to another Yash Raj Films production with Salman Khan. And, of course, news is already circulating that the leading Bollywood actress will be connecting with Shah Rukh Khan in, yes, a film produced by YRF.

 
Katrina Kaif on BuzzineBollywood.com“He looks like Aamir; he sounds like him. At times, I feel it is Aamir and not Imran that I am sitting with and talking to.” Ms. Kaif told the Indian media while promoting Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and other Yash Raj productions. “It freaks me out completely.”
 
Apparently, Imran’s resemblance to Aamir was not the only challenge she had to face on the set of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. As she portrays a rock-and-roller in the film, Ms. Kaif also had to learn how to play the guitar. Hard as that may normally be, Ms. Kaif was even more challenged when she had to cope with the impatient teachings of her instructor, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan co-star and Pakistani singer Ali Zafar (Tere Bin Laden).
 
“I learned 10% from Ali and the rest, 90%, Farhan (Akhtar) taught me. Ali was so impatient with me,” Ms. Kaif confessed to the press. “After playing for just five minutes, he’d expect me to pay like a rockstar. I couldn’t do that.”
 
Apparently, being a Bollywood superstar does not translate into being a bodacious rockstar, but Ms. Kaif certainly has no problem associating with Hindi cinema’s rockstar-like leading men in Messrs. Salman and Shah Rukh Khan.
 
In working with Salman Khan in YRF’s Ek Tha Tiger and Shah Rukh Khan in another yet-to-be-named Yash Chopra production, Ms. Kaif tried to quell media whispers of a split within Bollywood based upon lines drawn in the sand by each Khan (Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir, and Saif Ali).
 
“There is a problem: the misconception that the media has that there is a camp system. We all have different equations — friendly, not so friendly — but everyone respects the other’s individuality,” Ms. Kaif candidly informed the Indian press. “There are really no camps or something like that.”
 
In trying to dish out a healthy dose of Bollywood reality to the Indian press corps, Ms. Kaif managed to bring up her guitar lessons again. Despite the demanding expectations of at least one of her instructors, Ms. Kaif conceded that it was all too necessary to be at least somewhat skillful in the strings-based instrument in order to make her character as grounded and realistic as possible.
 
“I am learning the guitar. For an actor, it’s really easy to be a rock star: wear some boots, wear some jeans, wear kajal, dishevel your hair, hold a guitar, and strum the strings,” she told the press. “I can actually hold the guitar right, as I know how to play it.”
 
Even more, by learning a new real-world skill that she can take into the make-believe world of cinema, Ms. Kaif added that the guitar lessons actually help both the audience and her positively distinguish between each of the characters she portrays.
 
In Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, not only is Ms. Kaif rustling her fingers against the strings of a guitar, but she is also toting a beedee in her mouth while dressing the part of a chic rocker, what with her raggedy T-shirt and jeans.
 
“Small things make the difference. I am doing two films a year, and if I show something which is a little different from the previous film, then the audience doesn’t get bored,” Ms. Kaif told the press. “If I can improve 15 percent with each film, or add something with every film, then people will not have the impression that I am not working hard.”
 
As for the film itself, Ms. Kaif gave the media a little sneak peek into what to expect once Mere Brother Ki Dulhan hits theaters and multiplexes this weekend.
 
“It’s a romantic comedy, very exaggerated, and is the tongue-in-cheek kind,” she informed reporters. “For Imran and me, it was a very new space. We didn’t know each other well (before the film), and there had to be fine-tuning, which eventually helped us to get into the characters that we are playing.”
 
Opening on September 9, 2011, ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ ("My Brother's Bride") is produced by Aditya Chopra; John Abraham makes a cameo appearance.