"I don't want to be called Hot" - Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif's sizzling number 'Sexy Lady' in Race, followed by the announcement of an item song in the sporty film Blue, has given the lady a va-va-voom image. She's surprisingly uncomfortable with her sensuous image. "I want to retain the image of the girl next-door. I don't want the hot image. Even in 'Sexy Lady', I'm fully clothed. I'm still the girl next-door. It's not the conventionally sexy kind of song. "

Race, where she's pitched for the sensuous sweepstakes against Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy has Katrina pulling out all the stops to erase the homely wholesome image.

The lady demurs. "I don't think so. Everything in Race looks larger-than-life very fulsome urgent and exaggerated. The actors are styled accordingly. I haven't done anything like it. Everyone's talking about it. I guess that's a good sign." Katrina is equally reluctant to accept that she's doing the most expensive item song ever in Tony's Blue.

"I wouldn't know about how expensive it is. But I'm doing a special appearance in Blue and the song-dance is part of it. Yeah I'm part of the film in a unique way. Akshay Kumar got me into it. As for the expenses, nowadays so many numbers are thrown into the public's face. I don't think it's right for actors to talk about the financial side of a film."

Next, ask her about the status of her relationship with Salman Khan and she clams up. "I'd like to keep that personal." Is it right to presume she's still with Mr Khan? "You can presume whatever you like. You can presume I'm an alien from outerspace, if you like. Right now I'm in a very happy place. Even rumours of us actresses fighting for space in Race is way off the mark. I've my own place in Race. My confidence-level has grown in recent times, and yes, it's partly because of the hits that I've had." After a number of films where her voice was dubbed Katrina finally used her own voice in Namastey London. And now she says she has dubbed for Race. "I've been working very hard on my diction. I try to speak in Hindi in my daily dealings."

After being with Salman who patented the name Prem in a series of films, Katrina seems stuck with another Prem, Ranbir Kapoor, who's her co-star in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.

"I guess they're worth being stuck with." She replies tongue-in-cheek. "I just love the script, my character and Ranbir's role. He's so much into his work. I'm also getting there. For me acting is no longer a hobby."

Posted in: Katrina Kaif