Salman will always be special: Katrina Kaif

Actress Katrina Kaif may be winning polls and topping surveys, but the one thing, the actor reveals that she has learnt in the industry is not to take any of them seriously. “They are fun, but I would be a fool to take them seriously. So when a poll declares me the sexiest or something else I say ‘Well thank you’ but I don’t carry it around my neck,” says Katrina. Close to completing a decade in Bollywood, point out that Kat’s rounding it up with starring opposite the B-Town Khan triumvirate – Aamir, Shah Rukh, Salman – and she says, “I’ve never believed in setting goals for myself here, so when I came in I had not promised myself that by five years I would do this and by 10 I would do that. But yes, there’s always that desire to work with some of the best names in the industry. So in that, it’s not just the Khans, but also other directors including Kabir Khan and actors that I’m glad I have worked with.”

While the actor is working with SRK and Aamir for the first time, her film Ek Tha Tiger has her pairing up with Salman. And this time around, it’s not just Salman’s action, but also the chemistry of the pairing that’s creating more buzz than it ever had in any of their previous films together. So have the two come a long way since their first film together? “Definitely. As an actor I am constantly trying to move forward in terms of performance. With each film you discover one more layer to your art. So yes, in that we’ve come a long way. As for chemistry, well, I think it’s really the first time that we both are romantically paired in a film that’s only about us, so it’s bound to affect the equation between the characters we play,” shares Katrina. The actor also reveals that she doesn’t believe in talks of off screen chemistry versus on screen. “Each film is unique. In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara I had worked with Hrithik (Roshan) for the first time, I didn’t know him too well personally, but our pairing clicked. So, I don’t see what Salman and my equation off screen has got to do with us on screen,” she quips. That’s on reel, off it, Kat says, “Not just Salman, even his family will always be special and very close to me. Today, we are both in a very comfortable space with each other.”

But talking of Salman, we ask how he’s changed over the years and she affirms, “I think he is more focussed today and at peace.

He’s found his groove and he is doing the kind of films that make him happy. And Ek... is one of them,” says Katrina. As for working with the Khan frenemies, doesn’t it get uncomfortable, considering buzz suggests she is caught in the crossfire of cold vibes between Salman and SRK. “No, not at all. I think both Salman and Shah Rukh are too busy with their own lives to bother about each other. They have moved on and so should we.”

First Ek Tha Tiger then Dhoom 3, action seems to be her genre these days. “It’s Salman who’s doing most of the action in Ek Tha Tiger, though I did try my hand at a few, very few... I would take the credit of doing action when I do a Kill Bill,” smiles Kat.