Katrina Kaif, 

the enigmatic Bollywood beauty ‘single until married’, but romantically linked to Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal

She refuses to divulge her age, passport, or the story behind her stage name – and, brought up in Hong Kong to a British mother, even her Indian heritage is disputed – but the Bharat, Dhoom 3 and Tiger Zinda Hai star is still one of Bollywood’s most-bankable female faces

Topic | Asian cinema: Bollywood

P Ramakrishnan

Published: 11:00am, 27 Aug, 2020

Updated: 11:00am, 27 Aug, 2020

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Arriving in Mumbai unable to speak a word of Hindi, Katrina Kaif has gone on to become one of the city’s most famous residents, And with nearly 43 million people following her on Instagram alone, it’s fair to anoint the actress as one of the reigning queens of Bollywood.

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Though a marquee name with more than 40 films under her belt and a career spanning 17 years in India – working in three languages – Ms Kaif prefers to stay tight-lipped about much of her past, which lends her an air of mystery. There’s some debate on the origin of her stage name, she prefers not to disclose her age and, despite being hounded by the paparazzi constantly, no one can confirm who she is or isn’t dating at any given time.

We do know that she was born in Hong Kong and learned Hindi on film sets with private tutors. Since then, she has had an incredible run at the box office with a hit every year for the past decade, making her one of the highest-paid actresses in India. As well as star billing in a number of forthcoming films – including a franchise of action movies in the works – she recently launched her own line of cosmetics: Kay Beauty by Katrina.

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We also know that she is a middle child, with three elder sisters (Stephanie, Christine and Natasha), three younger sisters (Melissa, Sonia and Isabel) and an elder brother (Michael).When Katrina did her first film in Mumbai, Boom (2003), the production team thought her professional name – Katrina Turquotte – would befuddle Indian audiences, so her father’s surname was used instead.

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Katrina was brought up by her British mother Suzanne Turquotte, with her absentee father, Mohammed Kaif, from Kashmir, moving to the US long ago. But the film’s producers and director have gone on record to state that the actress’ origin story is fictional and her roots do not trace back to Indian soil. The actress has chosen to stay mum about the entire business.