What the Failure of ‘Fitoor’ Means for Katrina Kaif

Will Katrina Kaif survive the debacle of her latest film ‘Fitoor’?

Katrina Kaif as Firdaus in Fitoor

Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 60 crore, the failure of Fitoor at the box-office is a setback for several talents involved in the project, but perhaps, the film’s lead actress Katrina Kaif will be hit the hardest.

Here was a film that had everything going for it - Fitoor was mounted as an epic romantic drama, the reference to Charles Dickens’ classic added to its grandeur, it had an ace filmmaker, Abhishek Kapoor, at the helm, also a great soundtrack and a Valentine’s Day release backed by one of the biggest studios in the country.

And clearly a lot of it was riding on Katrina Kaif’s petite shoulders.

Katrina Kaif (Gif courtesy: jia-sanjana.tumblr.com)

Katrina’s rise to the list of Bollywood’s A-listers since her debut with Boom (2003) has always been with the support of the industry’s superstars. Be it Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan, all her big hits till date came with a Khan, Kumar or Kapoor attached.

At a time when actresses like Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut, Anushka Sharma and Priyanka Chopra have ably driven projects centring around them to success, Fitoor was Katrina’s big chance to prove her detractors wrong.

Everything red hot except the chemistry. Katrina Kaif and Aditya Roy Kapur in Fitoor

Most reviews of the Abhishek Kapoor film squarely put the blame for Fitoor’s lack of appeal on on its lead pair.

“Katrina is good so long as she has to just be herself. So she dances, smiles and flirts cutely but the minute a dramatic scene comes up that patent “moist eyes and dewy lips” act draws attention to her utter inadequacy as a performer,” writes Namrata Joshi in The Hindu.

“Alas, Kapoor casts two attractive people where he ought have chosen a couple of actual actors instead, and thus it becomes hard to care about the protagonists or their sundered hearts, and despite aesthetic appeal, what we end up with is -- at best -- a screensaver... Katrina Kaif is Firdaus, red of hair, fair of skin and blank of expression,” is how Raja Sen puts it in his review for Rediff.com.

“But Fitoor saddles Kaif with more emotionally heavy moments than the actress of limited means can handle,” says Nandini Ramnath in Scroll.in.

Though Katrina is largely considered an actress of limited means, she still stood her own in films like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Namastey London. Had Fitoor turned out to be even an average grosser, the actress would have deservedly got her due credit for it, but more importantly, it would have silenced her critics who’ve constantly brushed her off as ‘just another pretty face’.

Katrina could pick up a few tips from Sonam Kapoor (Photo: Yogen Shah)

What Katrina probably needs is a project that’s developed keeping her strengths and weaknesses in mind and she could probably look to Sonam Kapoor for tips. Sonam who was completely written off as a non-actor made Neerja happen for her through her agents at Bling Entertainment.

The film, as well as Sonam’s performance, is now getting hugely positive feedback from previews. So Katrina needs to hang in there and play her cards right. Remember a Neerja doesn’t happen overnight, we had to suffer through Aisha and Khoobsurat before it came along.