Katrina Denies Salman, Ali Abbas Zafar’s Stories on ‘Bharat’ Role

Bharat releases on 5 June.

Katrina Kaif will next be seen in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram; Yogen Shah)

In a recent interview with film critic Anupama Chopra, Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif refuted Ali Abbas Zafar’s story about how Katrina, on the sets of Tiger Zinda Hai, insisted that she wanted to act in Bharat.

Narrating a personal story from her own interaction with the Bharat director, here’s what Anupama Chopra said:

“He said that through the making of Tiger Zinda Hai, you kept saying that I am going to be in Bharat. And of course, then he went to Priyanka and Priyanka...”

Katrina then interrupted Anupama to say that the story was not true. “I genuinely did not say that. I know he is my best friend but I have to clear this out, I genuinely did not say that. I genuinely did not think it,” said Katrina.

In a previous interview with Times of India also, Ali Abbas Zafar had mentioned Katrina’s eagerness to be a part of Bharat. Here’s what he said:

“When we finished <i>Tiger Zinda Hai</i>, Katrina smiled and told me that I am going to miss her on my next film. At that time, I was quite clear that Priyanka is going to do<i> Bharat.</i> Katrina laughed and told me that she will find some way to be a part of the film. Now she is a part of Bharat, so maybe it was destiny”

Ali&nbsp; Abbas Zafar, Filmmaker

Further in the conversation with Anupama, Katrina also revealed details of the exact moment when she found out she would be replacing Priyanka Chopra in Bharat.

“I was on a treadmill and one of my friends called me and said that you know Priyanka’s no longer in the film. And I had no idea at all and I said, but no problem. I still remember the thought: they’ll find somebody else. Ali’s the director, I’m sure lots of people want to work with him. Salman’s there in the film. Great script, I’m sure they’ll find someone. Rest of this conversaton, I don’t know where it’s come from,” said Katrina.

Although this isn’t the first time that the team of Bharat, particularly Salman and Ali, have made contradictory statements. Earlier during an interaction with his fans, Salman Khan mentioned that Priyanka’s last-minute departure from the film left the team with very little time to prepare the actor who would be stepping into her shoes. Very bluntly he said that, “Priyanka didn’t give us much time.”

On the contrary, Katrina has clearly said that she had two months to prepare for her role in Bharat and once she had perfected the physicality and hair of the character, everything else just fell into place.

Even in this interview with Anupama, Katrina has said that she participated in workshops and language training classes to prepare.

(With inputs from Times of India)