Diplomacy rules in Bollywood

Karan: Last time, we had such a fun time with you and Bipasha. Did I get you into trouble?

Lara: Yes. Tremendously... it has taken me a whole year to undo all the problems I caused myself!

Karan: You just said some wonderful things about Amisha Patel last time?

Lara: It’s all your fault!

Karan: What did I do? I just used my good old friend… the liometer… you just kept spilling the beans. Now of course, it’s long forgotten. You and Amisha don’t cross paths anymore

Lara: Actually, I did meet her at your birthday party. All this has to do with you.

Karan: And what happened when you met her?

Lara: She was really sweet, really lovely... and you know something

Karan: You felt terrible.

Lara: I felt terrible after the show anyway and I think immaturity and being caught up in the moment make you do a lot of things

Karan: You are looking absolutely stunning. Why do I feel you are suddenly raring to go?

Lara: Because I probably am. It's taken me about 3 and a half years to find my footing in the industry, to find out what I like doing, the kind of cinema that I like being part of, the kind of people that I like doing work with. I think once you have that in place, you start feeling a little more confident about yourself.

Karan: You look super sexy in Jhoom and in Partner. Of course the film is a huge success.

Lara: Thank You. I think I have been tremendously lucky. Jhoom came to me at a point in life when I had both my parents in the hospital. You wait for a Yash Raj film to come to you and you can’t even call them to tell that, I would like to be a part of it...

Karan: Did you feel at any point in time that I should pack my bags and leave?

Lara: Things were not going the way I had planned. I have learnt one thing that people will perceive you the way you want them to perceive you. So, if you are going to continuously allow yourself to do films that will have two songs and three scenes, then that’s what will keep coming to you. So, I did pack my bags and sat at home and I waited till Jhoom and Partner came my way…

Karan: But, looking hot and sexy and showing more than you would have liked to, has also been a reason for some people to notice you, do you think?

Lara: I think coming from a glamorous background, as part of the modelling industry… being a Miss Universe… you put me in jeans, t-shirt, a pair of sneakers and I will make it look hot. This is the business that we have earned our bread and butter on. I have always had a problem with the fact that… I don’t know why people in the industry think that a glamorous looking person can’t have a meatier chunk. Why is it that you have to be the girl next door?

Karan: Are we saying something about the girl next door?

Lara: No, it’s just the mind set. Why can’t attractive people not act? Why?

Katrina makes an entry

Karan: Well, Katrina you have been very diplomatic. I have been doing some research, looking through your interviews, trying to look for something sensational! Why are you like this… you are young, you are beautiful. You have to say rude and nasty things once in a while. Think of something rude to say!

Katrina: I think it is probably because I came here at a later stage. Most people grew up here… I think there is a certain reservation about going ahead and criticising people who have grown up here and been here all their life. Let, maybe 3 or 4 years pass and I will get really over confident and then start...

Karan: Start making headlines… Suddenly we will see very dramatic answers!

Karan: But, on this show we like to talk about scandals, controversies, all of those things. You have never gone on record and admitted your relationship with Salman Khan.

Katrina: I thought you are going to wait for at least 10 minutes you know.

Karan: Are you trying to get over this and then get ahead to the next question?

Katrina: No. Cancerians are like crabs that have this hard shell on the outside and inside they have these soft little things...

Karan: One second. Was this the answer to my question? Where did she go... It felt like Bejan Daruwala, suddenly all astrology.

Katrina: I think certain people feel the need to protect what is important to them and what is personal to them purely because they cannot handle other people’s opinion. They can barely handle their own life. I mean I can just about handle my personal life, without other people’s opinion, comments and whatever else. So, the more you open yourself to this kind of speculation, I just think I will crumble. I will have a nervous break down, fall apart and die...

Karan: Well done for that answer. Thank you Katrina. Are you dating Salman Khan?

Katrina: I have got a very good answer to that. This is going to sound bad, trying to be a good Indian girl kind of an answer. But, I really think that before marriage and after marriage — after marriage is eventually when you settle down. So why, bother giving this big before marriage diary of, you know this is what happened and then this happened and that…

Karan: So, you won’t say it, but we have to presume that you are. But you don’t want to give a final confirmation of this information.

Katrina: I don’t want my before marriage diary. I don’t want a full diary before that. Then you know my kids should be like, “mummy and daddy met… and it was love at first sight” and then we got married and we lived happily ever after, the fairy tale and the end...

Karan: So much thought for the future, darling. You are too young to think so far ahead. But, you are definitely not single. Are you single Katrina? I am trying every trick in the trade. Ok, I am turning left, you are single, Lara?

Lara: Nice try. I don’t know. I do not encourage speculation...

Karan: Why, you are dating an Italian man I heard.

Lara: I am running a contest with newspapers, who ever can bring me the photograph of the Italian I can identify - that newspaper is going to get the breaking news scoop.

Karan: I was so shocked when I heard about this Italian man. So, you are both not saying whether you are not single or not? You are giving me philosophical answers.

Katrina: I am a philosophical person. What to do?

Karan: I am so fatigued!

Karan: Bipasha and you have steamy stuff happening. I believe there were daggers drawn. You don’t look at each other, there is no camaraderie.

Katrina: I think that honestly, that is something, you will have to ask her. As far as the whole situation goes, I did try to clarify myself.

Karan: Of course there was a problem between John and Salman. Was it an off shoot of that?

Katrina: No, you see, at the end of the day I am here to work and I definitely know, so is she. She is a person who is working very hard in the industry. And that has nothing to do with me and nothing to do with her. So, I did say to her that I think you are a wonderful person and I genuinely do. I think she is quite funny. She is opinionated and I like that. Some where down the line I think may be a third party has come in between and caused this.

Karan: But, do you wish each other when you come face to face?

Katrina: No.

Karan: Lara, any problems with anybody at all or things are fine?

Lara: No, things are fine!

Karan: Well, in the beginning you had your so-called war with Priyanka…

Lara: You know, I think the media needs a new bakra every couple of years. So, initially it was Sush and Ask and then it was Priyanka and me. And now it’s Sonam and Deepika.

Karan: What both of you had strangely in common was - you, Lara, though you are a hard core Punjabi. you had this whole western image. Everyone thought that Lara Dutta is very westernised. But of course you are a true Indian girl with the Punjabi background. But, that never came to the fore till very recentlly.

Lara: But, you know, I tried to get out of the stereotype from the very first film. When I did Andaz, I did it with as hard core a Hindi film Director you can get, Raj Kanwar and the character that I played as well was very Punjabi. I did that with No Entry, where I played a suspicious Indian housewife. These are the roles that have been appreciated.

Karan: And you have had to combat that as well Katrina because everyone said Anglosized, westernised. Now, you dub your own films.

Katrina: When it comes to modelling it’s easy. People just accept you. But, in films, there is a lot of...

Lara: But, I have to say, having worked with Katrina in Partner, she gives you this huge complex. I think she is really hard working. I think she is really dedicated. She knows this is where she wants to be and she is going to go all out to get it and I really admire that.

Karan: That’s fantastic because Hindi was totally not known to you.

Katrina: It was pretty much alien and then I started out with doing South movies.

Karan: Do you remember, any one funny line you had to say, that you couldn’t get in a South Indian film?

Katrina: No, because I was pretty honest and straight forward. The dialogues would some time come at the end of the day and they would say, Madam, can you please learn these dialogues and come tomorrow for the shooting and I was like, 'No. don’t show that to me.'

Karan: So what did you do?

Katrina: I always learnt it. But I would learn it according to the shot.

Karan: What happens Lara, in this industry when you get attached or you have rumors and controversies about you with leading men, which is not true. How does that place you?

Lara: What happens is that the media keeps falling for the same time-tested ploy, time and time again and every time there is a film releasing, the makers of the film or the publicists or whoever decide that it would be so exciting to spread these rumours that the two leading male and female stars are having a scene with each other and the media keeps falling for it again and again. All it does is, it garners publicity for a film. Once the film is out and done with, you’re linked to the next co-star you're working with!

Karan: So by the end of it, you've been attached to everybody!

Lara: Exactly! I've been linked with Abhishek, with John. So how many times are you going to keep standing up and defending yourself. What irritates me a lot is if you’re linking me with someone who’s already a married man with children, what are you trying to do? You’re trying to light a fire in somebody's marriage and your trying to break that up and that I don't like!

Karan: It becomes embarrassing!

Lara: It becomes embarrassing and more that that when there is no need for something like that. This industry is as it is pretty murky, without getting it murkier. For the person sitting at home who is not part of the industry who is the wife or the husband or whatever, it’s just not fair!

Karan: And with you darling (to Katrina), have you also been through these experiences in the few years that you've been here?

Katrina: No! Nobody links me with anyone!

Karan: No one links you with anyone?

Lara: They're too scared! (Laughs)

Karan: You must never say that too soon. You never know what you will read in the papers tomorrow!

Katrina: But it’s true, I've done 4 films with Akshay Kumar who is linked with almost everyone he works with. Poor thing! He's so innocent. I don't know if I'm lucky or is the perfect example of model behaviour on the set.

Karan: That's not true actually. I think I’m just going to buy what Lara just said. They're just scared Katrina. No one's linking you because they are just worried about the repercussions of something like that.

Katrina: No! They don't! Maybe I'm just so undesirable! I’m going through those thoughts lately. What's going on?

Karan: You've had a series of hits. But what happens when people say Katrina's getting films with bigger heroes because of Salman? Does that bother you at any level?

Katrina: Yeah! It does!

Karan: But more or less, has it been a good time - the Indian film industry? Have you enjoyed being a part of it?

Katrina: I think I’ve been really really lucky. In my opinion, God has really been on my side because I came here with nothing! I came here with a book with Atul Kasbekar's shots. I was going to the agencies and saying, 'Here are my pictures. Can I do your ad film? Thank you!' So I think for the four out of the five films I've done, they've been hits and have done well and it's more than I could have ever hoped for. This industry has given me a chance to provide for my family. I have six sisters. It has let us be together in a way!

This interview appears courtesy Star Middle East ltd. Episode 22 of KOFFEE WITH KARAN featuring Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif will be on Star World tomorrow, October 7th at 9 00pm