Actor Katrina Kaif hasn’t been very vocal about her life and her choices with the media. For the longest time, we didn’t find her pouring her heart out to the public. Due to many of her questionable film choices, she has often been tagged as a ‘Bollywood bimbo’. It was in 2016 that she made her appearance in ‘Koffee With Karan’ and people realized how sensible, funny, and self-aware she is.
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When Katrina accepts a platform where she can speak with her guards down, she is an absolute delight. Her conversation with Vicky Kaushal at an interview with Film Companion a couple of years back is proof.
And now, a person on Reddit (u/camillew01) under the subreddit r/BollyBlindsNGossip has dug up a 2008 interview of Katrina Kaif with famous journalist Shoma Chaudhury where she talks about her strategic film choices, her childhood, and the responsibility of being the ‘man’ of the house. Which is why the article is titled ‘Katrina Kaif: The man of the family’.
In the interview, Katrina revealed that her parents separated when she was very young and it was because of the absence of her father that she decided to secure her family financially. She also claimed that it was possibly also the reason why she was attracted to older men (she was dating Salman Khan at the time).
“My father is not an influence, he was not part of our family; my parents separated when I was very young and I have never met him since. I am sure if some psychoanalyst lay me on a couch and probed hard and long, they could prove I was sad, but actually, at most, the lack of a father means I am drawn to older men, men who have lived life and have some experience,” she had said.
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Katrina has six sisters and a brother, and her mother was a lawyer turned international social worker. Her work took her places and so Katrina and her siblings were always travelling from one country to another.
“We never lived anywhere for more than two years and we did not have a great deal of stability, or physical security and comfort, but we led a very culturally diverse life. That’s an unbeatable way to be prepared — I don’t think you can’t get a better education than that. I have seen so much and lived in so many cultures, nothing shocks me. You can throw me any society where and I will adapt,” she revealed.
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Back then, Katrina starred in films like ‘Race’, ‘Namastey London’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Partner’ – all of which were ‘big hero films’ and were box office hits. Reshma Shetty, the owner of the agency that managed the actor ever since she started working in India, revealed something very interesting about her.
“She wants to be the man in her family. She wants to secure things for her siblings. She understands that there is a limited run that actresses can have and she is determined to make the most of it. Everything is planned out.”
To this, Katrina added that her mother never planned for the future, so she was the one to take it as a responsibility to do so.
“It takes intelligence to recognise that cinema is just cinema. My mother never planned materially for the future. But I feel the need to stabilise myself. I need physical security — I can’t roam around and say, oh, we’ll all be fine. I need to work on building security for my sisters for sure. I could not go to film school, but I want to ensure my sister can.”
One thing’s for sure, there’s a lot more to Katrina than she lets on. She’s gained a fan in me. 🙂