“In BLUE, I Am There For Exactly 7 Minutes And 20 Seconds!” – KATRINA KAIF

Katrina Kaif is back in India after a much-deserved month-long break during which she was away in London where she had lots of fun with her seven sisters and a brother. The one thing she is most looking forward to now is the two-month-long shooting schedule of Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti.

Katrina was part of the first shooting stint of the film in Bhopal but “that was the time more of the crowd scenes were picturised as they dealt with campaigning for elections”. The actress with the Midas touch adds, “Now will be picturised the real substantive and weighty scenes.” Rajneeti boasts of a formidable star cast comprising Naseeruddin Shah, Nana Patekar, Ajay Dev­gan, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Manoj Baj­pai. Just so that she doesn’t fall short of the talent of her co-stars, Katrina revealed that she’d be visiting Prakash Jha’s office regularly before the shooting schedule begins on 1st September, to rehearse her lines. Jha added, “All my stars do that. They come to the office and practise their lines. It only helps during shooting.”

Not only is Katrina all praise for the casting but also for Prakash Jha. “He’s a fabulous director,” she says of the man who has made commercial films like Gangaajal and Apaharan alongside art films like Mrityudand and Hip Hip Hurray. Before leaving for Bhopal, Katrina Kaif has to shoot for three commercials.

If the pretty actress is worried about anything, it’s about her special appearance in Blue. “I have a presence of exactly 7 minutes and 20 seconds in it,” she reveals. She speaks about the length of her role in such exact terms because she saw her portions after landing in India. “I have to dub for the film,“ she explains, adding, “I want to speak to the producers to not use me too much in the film’s promotion lest people feel disappointed when they don’t see me throughout in the film. It’s incorrect to give the public hopes of a full-fledged role when, in reality, I’m hardly there.” Katrina goes on, “I don’t even have a song in Blue.”

And just why did Katrina do the film then? Pat comes the reply, “It’s not as if I was conned into doing it. I jolly well knew, it was a brief role and hence I opted for a special appearance. The producers paid me well and the few scenes I have, are good. I also did it be­cause of Akshay Kumar.” Katrina and Akshay have proven to be a lucky pair as many of their earlier films have work­ed at the box-office. Blue also stars Akshay.

Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan is an­other film starring Akshay and Katrina. “I’ve also to dub for that film,” explains Katrina before talking about the show she participated in with Shah Rukh Khan in Chicago. “Shah Rukh and I returned to India from Chicago and the media persons literally mobbed him at the airport in Bombay to obviously get his comments on the Newark airport incident involving him and the security.” Katrina was not present at the Newark airport when the controversial incident took place.

- Komal Nahta

Issue dated Aug 23 – 29, 2009

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