First Priyanka, now Kalki: Katrina’s cold wars continue

With three of her last six films being flops, it looks like Kat’s beginning to feel the heat
There is a lot of buzz about Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin not getting along while promoting their upcoming film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Female actors in the same film seeing each other as rivals is nothing new – whether it was Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon battling it out on the sets of Andaz Apna Apna, or B-town’s leading ladies, from Kajol to Urmila Matondkar, refusing to accept the role of Nisha in Dil To Pagal Hai as they did not want to be sidelined by the film’s heroine, Madhuri Dixit. Just last year, there was a lot of speculation about how Katrina, who had agreed to play the lead opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Anurag Basu’s Barfee (then titled Silence) was unhappy that Priyanka Chopra had been signed to play an important supporting role in the same film. In fact, Zoya Akhtar, who has written and directed ZNMD, brought it up in a recent interview. “In the Hindi film industry, it’s very difficult to cast two actresses in a film. If there is Katrina in the film and she is a superstar, then other actresses you approach may feel intimidated; they will not want to act if she has a particular kind of role…it’s too much politics. But Kalki has no such notion. She doesn’t come from that school of thought, which is very refreshing. And she is an excellent actor.” Guess Zoya didn’t count on Katrina being the insecure one. And, of course, we will believe that one until Ms Kaif tells us otherwise!