Katrina Kaif poses during the trailer launch of her upcoming Hindi language film ‘Phone Bhoot’ in Mumbai. File/AFP

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif on Wednesday showered love on her ‘Tiger’ co-star Salman Khan, as the latter turned 58. Salman and Katrina have shared the screen space in the ‘Tiger’ franchise. The first installment in the franchise, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ was released in 2012. The action thriller film is directed by Kabir Khan, and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The second installment ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ was released in 2017, and was written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.

While, the third installment ‘Tiger 3’ released on November 12, 2023. It is directed by Maneesh Sharma, and also stars Emraan Hashmi. The movie revolves around an Indian RAW-agent Avinash “Tiger” Singh Rathore (played by Salman), and Zoya (Katrina) an ISI agent who goes undercover to counteract the efforts of Tiger. Now, on the birthday of the superstar, the ‘Sarkar’ fame actress shared a black and white picture of Salman, and wrote: “Tiger Tiger Tiger/ May u always be just as you are ... a true original...Happy Birthday.”

On the professional front, Katrina next has ‘Merry Christmas’ in her kitty. The romantic thriller film is directed by Sriram Raghavan, and stars Vijay Sethupathi, alongside Katrina. Salman is currently hosting the reality show ‘Bigg Boss 17’. Born in Hong Kong, Kaif lived in several countries before she moved to London for three years.

She received her first modelling assignment as a teenager and later pursued a career as a fashion model. At a fashion show in London, Indian filmmaker Kaizad Gustad cast her in Boom (2003), a critical and commercial failure. While Kaif established a successful modelling career in India, she initially had difficulty finding film roles due to her poor command of Hindi.

After appearing in the Telugu film Malliswari (2004), Kaif earned commercial success in Bollywood with the romantic comedies Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005) and Namastey London (2007). Further success followed with a series of box-office hits, but she was criticised for her acting, repetitive roles, and inclination to male-dominated films. Kaif’s performances in the thriller New York (2009) and the romantic comedy Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011) were better received, earning her nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

She starred in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009), Raajneeti (2010), and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) during this period, and found major commercial success in the action thrillers Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dhoom 3 (2013), and Bang Bang! (2014), all of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films.

Commercial success has since varied; the action films Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), Sooryavanshi (2021) and Tiger 3 (2023) and the drama Bharat (2019) emerged as box-office hits. Kaif’s portrayal of an alcoholic actress in the romantic drama Zero (2018) earned her the Zee Cine Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Agencies