Actress
Katrina Kaif, the girl of every man’s dream, is one of the most beautiful Indian actresses. She has appeared in many Bollywood movies and given outstanding performances to gain the audience’s love. She has a Kashmiri descent with a British touch. She is currently married to the Bollywood actor, Vicky Kaushal, and the couple is very happy with each other. Katrina is also an active social worker who constantly supports various social causes to make a better world. Let’s know some more about this gorgeous Bollywood actress.
Early life
Katrina Kaif was born on 16 July 1983 in Hong Kong (then under British rule) as “Katrina Turquotte”, her mother’s surname. Her mother, Suzanne, is an English lawyer and charity worker while her father, Mohammed Kaif, is a British businessman of Kashmiri descent. Katrina Kaif has a big family with seven siblings. She has an elder brother named Sebastien, three elder sisters named Stephanie, Christine, and Natasha, and three younger sisters named Melissa, Sonia, and Isabel. Katrina’s parents divorced while she was a child. She has stated that her father had no influence on her family while growing up. She lived for three years in London before coming to India.
Bollywood Career
When Katrina was 14 years old, she won a beauty contest in Hawaii which led to the beginning of her professional modelling career. She started to frequently appear at the London Fashion Week. At such a fashion show, she got noticed by a London-based filmmaker named Kaizad Gustad. She got the opportunity to give her acting debut in the Hindi-English heist movie titled “Boom”. The movie was shot in India, and during her stay in the nation for the movie shoot, she decided to permanently stay in India and work with Indian filmmakers. She also changed her surname to her father’s, believing that it is easy to pronounce. She started to gain popularity after endorsing brands like Coca-Cola, LG, Samsung, Fevicol, etc. This helped her to establish a successful modelling career in India.
The Debut
Though “Boom” was a commercial failure, it was the debut movie of Katrina Kaif. The movie got so many negative reviews that she discarded the film as a part of her career. It was also difficult for her to get new movies because of her poor Hindi and strong British accent. So, she started taking classes to bridge that lingual gap. After failing to perform well in her first Bollywood film, she appeared in a Telugu movie titled “Malliswari” in 2004. She received a high payment for her role in the film which was the highest for a female lead in South Indian Cinema at that time. This was because of her looks that despite negative reviews for her acting, she earned various nominations for Best Actress awards – Telugu. Katrina then appeared alongside Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, and Sushmita Sen in the famous film “Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?”. She considered this film as the real beginning of her Bollywood career. She also got featured in another Telugu film “Allari Pidugu” for a brief role.
The Early Stages
Katrina Kaif has frequently shared screen with Akshay Kumar and in 2006 she marked the first venture with him named “Humko Deewana Kar Gaye”. The movie failed to perform well at the box office and Katrina was overshadowed by her supporting actresses. In the same year, she also appeared in the Malayalam crime thriller named “Balram vs. Tharadas”. The following year turned out to be a good one for Katrina. She appeared in four Bollywood movies all were hits. These films include a romantic comedy with Akshay Kumar named “Namastey London”, a supporting role in “Apne” alongside Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, the famous comedy “Partner” with Salman Khan, Govinda, and Lara Dutta, and another comedy with Akshay Kumar, “Welcome”. These movies gained amazing reviews from the audience and “Welcome” became the second highest-grossing Bollywood movie in 2007.
In the year 2008, she appeared in the action thriller “Race” alongside Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, and Sameera Reddy. Then she reappeared with Akshay Kumar in the action comedy “Singh Is Kinng” which turned out to be another commercial success for her in the industry. This marked her sixth consecutive Bollywood success though she got criticised for her acting skills and received comments that she is only the beauty element in the films.
The Great Success
In 2006, Katrina was cast in “New York” with John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh. The movie performed well at the box office and Katrina also received positive reviews for her acting representation. She then appeared alongside Ranbir Kapoor in the hit comedy “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani”. She re-joined Akshay Kumar for several movies during this time including “De Dana Dan” and “Tees Maar Khan”. In 2010, she got the opportunity to again work with Ranbir Kapoor in “Rajneeti” along with Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai and Sarah Thompson.
Katrina has also frequently shared screen with the superstar Hrithik Roshan in the movies such as “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, “Bang Bang!”, and an item number in “Agneepath”. By this time, she has become an established actress in the industry and started getting offers to work with the most famous Bollywood Superstars. She appeared with Shahrukh Khan in “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, with Salman Khan in “Ek Tha Tiger”, and with Aamir Khan in “Dhoom 3”. All these movies are great hits in the industry.
The Ups and Downs
No one has been able to avoid the downturns in their career. Katrina Kaif too has to face some bad times in her acting journey. Though she has become one of the most loved Bollywood actresses by now, there have been some movies which failed to perform at the box office as expected. These movies include “Phantom”, “Fitoor”, “Baar Baar Dekho”, “Jagga Jasoos”, “Thugs of Hindostan”, “Zero”, and “Phone Bhoot”. These were some of the films which failed to gather as much audience as expected and did not prove good for Katrina. But we live all sides of life. So, she not only appeared in these commercially not-so-successful movies but also was part of some high-grossing films like “Tiger Zinda Hai” and “Bharat”. She will also appear in the third part of the Tiger franchise alongside Salman Khan.
Top Movies
Katrina Kaif has been a part of various successful as well as unsuccessful movies. She has sometimes been flawless in her performance while sometimes an amateur. But she has been loved by the audience in all her roles in the movies. So, let’s have a look at some of the great movies she has been a part of in her acting career.
| # | Movie Name | Releasing Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boom | 2003 |
| 2 | Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya | 2005 |
| 3 | Humko Deewana Kar Gaye | 2006 |
| 4 | Namastey London | 2007 |
| 5 | Apne | 2007 |
| 6 | Welcome | 2007 |
| 7 | Race | 2008 |
| 8 | Singh Is Kinng | 2008 |
| 9 | New York | 2009 |
| 10 | Partner | 2009 |
| 11 | Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani | 2009 |
| 12 | De Dana Dan | 2009 |
| 13 | Raajneeti | 2010 |
| 14 | Tees Maar Khan | 2010 |
| 15 | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara | 2011 |
| 16 | Mere Brother Ki Dulhan | 2011 |
| 17 | Ek Tha Tiger | 2012 |
| 18 | Jab Tak Hai Jaan | 2012 |
| 19 | Dhoom 3 | 2013 |
| 20 | Bang Bang! | 2014 |
| 21 | Tiger Zinda Hai | 2017 |
| 22 | Bharat | 2019 |
| 23 | Sooryavanshi | 2021 |
| 24 | Phone Bhoot | 2022 |
Achievements
Being a fantastic actress, Katrina has earned great rewards throughout her acting career. She has gained many nominations and won several film awards for her performance in numerous movies. Let’s see what she has earned.
| # | Award Name | Receiving Year | Received For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female | 2006 | Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? |
| 2 | IIFA Award - Style Diva of the Year | 2008 | - |
| 3 | Screen Award - Entertainer of the Year | 2010 | - |
| 4 | Stardust Award for Best Actress - Popular | 2010 | New York Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani |
| 5 | Stardust Award for Star of the Year – Female | 2010 | Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani |
| 6 | Screen Award for Best Actress (Popular Choice) | 2011 | Raajneeti Tees Maar Khan |
| 7 | NDTV Indian of the Year - Entertainer of the Year | 2011 | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara |
| 8 | BIG Star Entertainment Award for Most Entertaining Actor in a Romantic Film - Female | 2012 | Jab Tak Hai Jaan |
| 9 | Screen Award for Best Actress (Popular Choice) | 2013 | Ek Tha Tiger Jab Tak Hai Jaan |
Personal Life
Katrina has always been a very close relationship with her family. She has a Christian mother and a Muslim father, and she is a firm believer in God, without dividing him into any religion. She is a secular person and visits temples, churches, dargahs and other religious places with equal belief.
She was in a serious relationship with the actor Salman Khan in the early years of her Bollywood journey. Then she was coupled with Ranbir Kapoor during and after the shooting of their movie “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani”. But despite these serious relationships, she chose Vicky Kaushal as her life partner. The couple got engaged shortly. They married at Six Senses Resort, Fort Barwara in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan on 9 December 2021.
Social Work
Katrina Kaif is one of those actresses who support various social causes and charitable organisations. She maintains a low profile about her philanthropic work and avoids getting in the talks for it. Her mother is also a social worker so she is actively engaged in her charitable trust and provides assistance to underprivileged children such as quality education, preventing infanticide, rehabilitating, etc. She has donated her earnings from the shows like “Kaun Banega Crorepati” and “10 Ka Dum” to her mother’s orphanage.
She also speaks about various issues related to women’s empowerment including gender equality and domestic violence. She has also favoured the increase in the big-budget female-dominate movies in Indian cinema to bring women to the front in the entertainment industry. She not only supports women’s rights but also speaks for LGBT rights as well as for causes associated with cancer and children’s education. Katrina has also been active with the “Being Human Foundation” of Salman Khan and has walked on the ramp for a charity fashion show organised by this foundation.
Katrina has been a part of many social events like the “United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime” (UNODC) to curb human trafficking in India, the “Jai Jawan” program by NDTV etc. She also launched an initiative named #Kare in 2019, a charitable program under her cosmetics brand, Kay Beauty. This was to support various social causes like the employment of rural women.
Conclusion
Katrina Kaif has given several amazing movies to the Bollywood industry with her outstanding performance. She has not only been involved in the acting business but also frequently engaged in social work. She has been frequently questioned by the media about general awareness and several social issues to which she answered brilliantly. She has turned out to be one of the well knowledgeable actresses. This explains that she is not only a beauty element but also an intelligent person. Katrina is a remarkable example of beauty with brains.
