At 24, Katrina sprints on path to success

As she turns 24, Britain-born Katrina Kaif, who was initially written off by critics for her strong foreign accent, can boast of having carved a niche in Bollywood in just five years.

Her birthday Wednesday will see a family get-together as her mother and sisters are arriving in Mumbai from abroad to celebrate.

"Katrina is working. She is doing radio interviews for her forthcoming film 'Singh Is Kinng'. As far as celebrations go, she will dine with her family members," a source close to the actress said.

Katrina ventured into Hindi films from London in 2003 and struggled a lot mainly because of her accent and height. But then last year, she proved her mettle with four hits - "Namastey London", "Apne", "Partner" and "Welcome.

This year too she repeated the success story with "Race" and gave credit to her fans for her success.

"I don't think it's a matter of where you place yourself. It's a matter of how your fans feel about you and where the industry finds you. At this particular place I think I am lucky to be able to say that I do get offers for a lot of films," Katrina said.

She is one of eight siblings, all girls. Her mother is British and her father is from Jammu and Kashmir.

The actress spent her formative years in Hawaii, but later moved to London. She started modelling accidentally when she was in Hawaii at the age of 14.

Thereafter she continued modelling in London till she moved to Mumbai, pursuing a movie career.

While climbing the ladder of success, the actress kept her focus intact.

"I am pretty clear about what I want to do. I don't want to go down the road doing serious cinema. I am happy doing commercial films. The fun films give the audience time to escape the monotony in everyday life," she said.

Now all eyes are set on her films "Singh Is Kinng" and "Yuvraj".

While the former is a romantic comedy and sees her once again with Akhsay Kumar, the latter is a musical extravaganza and will see her teaming up with real life beau Salman Khan.

"'Singh Is Kinng' is a comedy. Director Rajkumar Santoshi's script is one of the best scripts I have ever heard."

Katrina has now moved on to bigger banners like Yash Raj Films. She will soon be seen in "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" with Ranbir Kapoor.