Well, you look too composed and calm to lose your cool.
Oh, I can lose my cool. But with me however, it’s mostly on the inside. See, with most people they react on the outside. With me, everything’s playing in my mind. In my mind, I’m always fighting some battles; I overcome some doubts and fears and nobody will ever know. I can be sitting five hours with my friends or on an off day, with people around at home, just interacting and a zillion thoughts running through my head.

Isn’t that unhealthy? Allowing something to fester and then finally venting could always have negative repercussions.
It’s a very bad trait. I realised that when you’re angry, your sense of judgment is often fogged. I think many of our miseries stem from our impulsiveness.

Who are the people who affect her the most?
There are many people who affect me. My family, but my family’s obviously not going to be cruel to me. There’s my manager friend, Reshma Shetty. Now she’s someone who can just say something and I’ll burst to tears. I think when someone’s able to tell you a truth about yourself; it just immediately makes you vulnerable. I can cry at the drop of a hat if the person really gets me.

You are seen as someone elusive, someone who doesn’t really have friends in this industry. Does she believe in professional friendships?
Honestly, if you are two actresses who are in the same league, the same bracket, if you are in similar categories, competing against each other, then I think it’s futile to even pursue a friendship. I see such a friendship as a dead investment. I probably wouldn’t attempt it. It’s a friendship that’s destined to go sour the minute professional rivalry creeps in. Off the sets I’m a very introverted person. Until I know you, I will not say much. If people want to mistake that for being dumb, elusive, whatever, then so be it.

You don’t have to bleed to know you’re alive right?
So just because I don’t mirror my emotions doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Katrina is anything but dumb.

You have been spotted with Salman all over the party circuits and beyond, why you refuse to make a comment.
As an actress you’re battling so many opinions on your work, on your looks, on your weight, on what work you are getting and what you’re not. Now if you add to that by coming clean with your personal life, there’ll be another set of judgments, ‘Why this person loves you?’ ‘Why he doesn’t love you?’, ‘When will he marry you?’, ‘Why isn’t he marrying you?’ You’re going to go completely insane answering these questions. There are some people and we all know who they are, who openly discuss their lives, and I admire them for it. I think they are very brave to be able to put themselves out there and not care about judgments. But I can’t do it. I’d be disturbed if people were to throw judgments and make speculations about my personal life.

Most actresses in your league attribute your impressive line-up of films to Salman connection. You didn’t have to go through the struggle.
Not knowing whom you’re talking about these comments brim from jealousy. I would easily end up getting jealous of people in certain situations, where I wanted something and I didn’t end up getting it. I think it’s a completely unfair accusation because I have also battled things that discounted me from this industry. These actresses come here, they are fully prepared, they know Hindi, they know the mood, and they know the culture, the background of Hindi films. For me it’s been a completely uphill struggle trying to adapt myself to the ways of the industry. Statements like that are so irrational because no matter what, you have to sustain yourself in the industry. You can get the biggest break in history but it’s not easy to sustain. Even if you have a Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan or a Salman Khan standing behind you, you’re not going to last, you have to do it for yourself.

People are hinting at a liaison between her and her co-star of many films, Akshay Kumar. Rumours are rife that it is due to their involvement that Akki is recommending her for all his films.
When I’m doing films with Salman, people are asking, ‘Why are you doing so many films with Salman?’ and now the same with Akshay. Akshay Kumar is such a huge star, he could’ve had any huge star like say a Preity Zinta as his co-star, but he chose to work with me, a rank newcomer, which I think is very admirable. I’ll always be grateful for that. If there’s a rumour that Akshay and I are involved, then I haven’t heard it for sure. Everybody knows how we are on the sets, and Twinkle used to drop in regularly while we were shooting. Twinkle and I get along very well, I find her hysterical. She has the most gorgeous son in the world. Her son Aarav and I have had great times together, painting, and doing stuff,” she defends herself.

To the world outside, it may look like Katrina’s got herself a crystal stair into Bollywood, but that also means that she has to tread even more carefully, making sure nothing cracks as she takes each step. With Abbas Mustan’s next with Saif and Bipasha, ‘David Dhawan’s ‘Partner’ with Salman and Govinda, Anees Bazmi’s ‘Welcome’ and a few others in the pipeline, it looks improbable that she’ll be robbed of any glory. Right here like right now, she’s got her spot under the sun.