Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif is a Hong Kong-born British-Indian actress and model who has starred in several commercially successful films, which made her one of the popular actresses in current Bollywood. Katrina Kaif was born in Hong Kong to a Kashmiri Muslim father, Mohammed Kaif, and a British Christian mother, Suzzane.
Kaif's London modeling work led to her discovery by filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a part in his film Boom (2003). She moved to Mumbai and was offered a number of modeling assignments. However, filmmakers were initially hesitant to sign her because she could not speak Hindi.
Kaif saw success with the 2005 film Sarkar where she had a small role Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend. Her next release, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005), where she was paired opposite Salman Khan, earned her an award at the Stardust Award for breakthrough female performance.
In 2007 Katrina appeared in the hit movie Namastey London, wherein she starred as a British girl alongside Akshay Kumar for the second time after the box office dud Humko Deewana Kar Gaye. She has since featured in a series of box office hits that include Apne, Partner and Welcome.
2008 saw her play a villainesque role for the first time in Abbas-Mustan's hit action thriller Race. She played the role of Saif Ali Khan's secretary who is secretly in love with his hostile stepbrother played by Akshay Khanna. She appeared next in Anees Bazmee's box office super-hit Singh Is Kinng alongside Akshay Kumar for the fourth time. Kaif's final release of the year, Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj, was a surprise critical and commercial failure.
Kaif's first release for 2009, New York, with John Abraham was a critical and commercial success. Kaif's performance was highly appreciated with critic Taran Adarsh writing, "Katrina gives you the biggest surprise. Known for her glamour roles, Katrina proves that she can deliver if the director and writer offer her a role of substance. She's outstanding. In fact, people will see a new, different Katrina this time." After that, she had a box office sucess with political thriller Raajneeti and a flop with her fifth and for now final collaboration with Akshay Kumar, the comedy Tees Maar Kahn in 2010; the latter made her notorious for her famous item number "Sheila Ki Jawani". Kaif was a member of the ensemble cast in Zoya Akhtar's comedy drama Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), and then earned a Filmfare nomination for her role as a runaway bride in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011), This was followed by several consecutive sucess with the spy film Ek Tha Tiger and the romance Jab Tak Hai Jaan (both in 2012), action film Dhoom 3 in 2013 (her biggest commercial sucess to date), the 2014 action comedy Bang Bang! along Hrithik Roshan and starred alongside Saif Ali Khan in the 2015 thriller Phantom. After a string of flops, she regained box office success by appeareng in Tiger Zinda Hai, the 2017 sequel of Ek Tha Tiger
Despite her continuous success, Kaif's struggles with Hindi language are somehow of a meme among Bollywood aficionados. While she has improved substantially with time, there is no coincidence that she has been somewhat typecast into foreigner and NRI characters. She also has become somewhat of an standard for Item girls; along her iconic "Sheila Ki Jawani" number, she was the "Chikni Chameli" in the 2012 film Agneepath.
- Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005)
- Namastey London (2007), undoubtedly her breakthrough role
- Partner (2007)
- Race (2008)
- Singh Is Kinng (2008)
- New York (2009), where people went "She Really Can Act!"
- Raajneeti (2010)
- Tees Maar Khan (2010), but only because of the "Sheila Ki Jawani" segment.
- Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)
- Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011)
- Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and its sequel Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)
- Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)
- Dhoom 3 (2013)
- Bang Bang! (2014)
- Phantom (2015)
- Jagga Jasoos (2017)
- Dance Sensation: Whatever you think of Kaif's acting chops, her dancing abilities are way more difficult to deny.
- Reality Subtext: her role as Zoya, the love interest of Tiger in the Tiger franchise. Why? Because Tiger is interpreted by Salman Khan, to with Kaif was in a relationship for almost a decade, and because they didn't appeared together in screen until after their breakup.