Acting beginnings (2003–2005) At a fashion show Kaif attracted the attention of London-based filmmaker
Kaizad Gustad. She made her acting debut in Gustad's
Hindi-English heist film
Boom starring
Amitabh Bachchan,
Gulshan Grover,
Jackie Shroff,
Madhu Sapre and
Padma Lakshmi. While filming in India, Kaif received other offers and decided to stay in the country; she then changed her surname to her father's because she thought it would be easier to pronounce. She was noticed as a model after walking the ramp for
Rohit Bal at the
India Fashion Week and appeared in the first
Kingfisher Calendar. After endorsing such brands as
Coca-Cola,
LG,
Fevicol and
Samsung, Kaif soon established a successful modelling career in India.
Boom (2003) had its first screening at the
Cannes Film Festival, where it was heavily promoted, but emerged as a commercial and critical failure. Kaif's portrayal of a supermodel ensnared in the
Mumbai underworld was poorly received;
Ziya Us Salam of
The Hindu wrote of the weak performances by Kaif and the other female stars, criticising their inexpressiveness. She later dismissed
Boom as an unimportant part of her career, ascribing her choice to her unawareness of Indian audiences' film taste then.
Hindustan Times reported that after
Boom's release, Kaif was written off due to her poor
Hindi and thick British accent; as a result, filmmakers were hesitant in casting her in their films. Kaif soon began working on her diction through Hindi classes. After the failure of her first Bollywood project, Kaif appeared in the
Telugu film Malliswari (2004), in which she played the title role of a princess forced to flee from her murderous caretaker. Kaif received a reported salary of for the film, the highest for a female lead at the time in
South Indian cinema;
Sify attributed this achievement to her looks and figure.
Malliswari was a profitable venture. In 2005, Kaif appeared briefly as
Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend in
Ram Gopal Varma's
political thriller Sarkar. She next featured alongside
Salman Khan,
Sushmita Sen and
Sohail Khan in
Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, a film she considered her "first real step into Bollywood". Directed by
David Dhawan, the film was a successful remake of the romantic comedy
Cactus Flower. For her role as a suicidal model, Kaif received the
Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female. According to
Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com, "Katrina's
Disney princess-like charm adds to her adorable screen presence". Kaif followed with her second Telugu film,
Allari Pidugu, in which she had "very little role to play and shake a leg or two with the hero", according to a critic from
The Hindu.
Breakthrough (2006–2008) In 2006, she appeared in
Raj Kanwar's unsuccessful
Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, which marked the first of her frequent collaborations with costar
Akshay Kumar. It tells the story of two like-minded strangers who fall in love despite being engaged to others. A Sify critic wrote that Kaif was "passably competent in a tailor-made role, giving a mild emotional spin to a couple of scenes" but was overshadowed by her supporting actresses. The same year, Kaif played an actress with
Mammootty in the
Malayalam crime thriller
Balram vs. Tharadas. Kaif's career prospects improved in 2007, when she appeared in four Bollywood hits. In an interview with
The Indian Express, she called
Vipul Amrutlal Shah's romantic comedy
Namastey London her first dominating role. Although critics expressed mixed views on the film, Sukanya Verma wrote that Kaif "suits the role to the T" and "brings the zingy mix of her character alive with style and substance". Kaif's chemistry with co-star Akshay Kumar was particularly well received, with
Nikhat Kazmi of
The Times of India calling their casting "refreshing".
Taran Adarsh from
Bollywood Hungama found Kaif confident in
Humko Deewana Kar Gaye and
Namastey London and "a revelation" in the latter, praising her for being convincing in the complex scenes. In the book
Indian Film Stars: New Critical Perspectives, author Michael Lawrence wrote that filmmakers' decision to cast Kaif as a
non-resident Indian in several films, including
Namastey London, was to capitalise on her foreign looks. Lawrence considered Kaif's Hindi with an English accent part of her appeal. Kaif had a supporting role as a doctor in the sports drama
Apne, a highly anticipated release as it marked the first appearance of
Dharmendra with his sons,
Sunny Deol and
Bobby Deol. After
Apne she rejoined director David Dhawan and Salman Khan for the comedy
Partner, a remake of
Hitch which co-starred
Govinda and
Lara Dutta. With a worldwide revenue of , the film was a major financial success. Kaif's final film of the year was
Anees Bazmee's comedy
Welcome, alongside Akshay Kumar,
Nana Patekar,
Mallika Sherawat and
Anil Kapoor. Although the film generated mostly negative reviews, it proved to be the
second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2007. Kaif rejoined Akshay Kumar in Anees Bazmee's action comedy
Singh Is Kinng, which earned worldwide to become her sixth consecutive box-office success. However, she received mixed reviews for her performance. Kaif's final film of the year—
Subhash Ghai's drama
Yuvvraaj—was a major box-office failure. Her portrayal of a girl forbidden by her father from marrying her poor lover was well received by Sify's Sonia Chopra: "Katrina is wonderful, plays the cello convincingly, and looks ethereal." Despite the film's mixed critical reception, its screenplay was added to the library of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its artistic merit. Up until this point, Kaif's voice was
dubbed over by voice artists in most of her films due to her lack of fluency in Hindi and other
Indian languages. Although her films during this period were financially successful, critics noted that she played unimportant roles in them as they were generally
male-dominated, whereas her performances were largely criticised. She justified choosing these glamorous roles as part of learning without any goal for a certain kind of film. Kaif participated in Shah Rukh Khan's "Temptations Reloaded" world concert tour in 2008. Also featuring
Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal, the tour began in
Amsterdam in June and ended four months later in
Dubai's Festival City Arena before an audience of 15,000.
Mainstream success (2009–2013) After a string of films in which she was cast in glamorous, "arm candy" roles, Kaif began looking for more substantial parts. One such opportunity arose with
Kabir Khan's terrorism drama
New York (2009). Costarring
John Abraham and
Neil Nitin Mukesh, the film follows the lives of three friends when one of them is
wrongly detained after
9/11. Kaif played Maya, a college student who unknowingly marries a terrorist. Having faced
racial discrimination when she was in London, Kaif identified with the character's experiences.
New York performed well at the box office and received favourable reviews. According to Subhash K. Jha, Kaif was successful as an actress in a substantial role and convincingly portrayed her character's transition from a carefree student to a tormented wife. A reviewer for
The Times of India considered it to be her career's best performance.
New York brought Kaif her first
Filmfare Award nomination for Best Actress. She then appeared in a cameo for India's first underwater thriller
Blue. Kaif starred with
Ranbir Kapoor in
Rajkumar Santoshi's hit comedy,
Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009), as an orphan forced to marry a rich man.
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the actors' energetic pairing and found that Kaif performed well in both emotional and light scenes. Her final film of the year was
Priyadarshan's comedy
De Dana Dan. In 2010, Kaif appeared in
Prakash Jha's political thriller
Raajneeti as part of an ensemble cast which included Ranbir Kapoor,
Ajay Devgan,
Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar,
Manoj Bajpai and
Sarah Thompson. The film took inspiration from
The Mahabharata and
Mario Puzo's 1969 novel
The Godfather. Set in
Bhopal, the film described a fiercely fought election campaign by two parties attempting to seize power with manipulation, corruption, and treachery. Kaif rejected the media's speculation that her character was based on
Sonia Gandhi. In preparation for her role as Indu, a politician loosely based on
Draupadi, she watched
Priyanka Gandhi's election campaign videos to study the body language and interaction of politicians. The film received mainly positive reviews from critics. Rajeev Masand found
Raajneeti "thrilling and gripping", though
Namrata Joshi was critical of the film's depiction of women. Nikhat Kazmi considered Kaif's performance to be "carefree and camera-unconscious" and wrote that she "seems to slip into the high-powered shoes easily". The film was highly successful at the box office, receiving a total collection of . Kaif collaborated with Akshay Kumar for the sixth time in the
slapstick comedy
Tees Maar Khan (2010), in which she played an aspiring actress, the girlfriend of a criminal (Kumar). In the film, Kaif performed a popular
item number titled "
Sheila Ki Jawani". The song was choreographed by the film's director
Farah Khan and for the belly dancing portion, Kaif was trained by expert Veronica D'Souza. In contrast to the song's popularity,
Tees Maar Khan was panned by critics and its box-office performance was poor. Kaif's portrayal was not well received; Renuka Rao of
Daily News and Analysis found her "drama queen act" poor but noted that she was exceptional in the item number. The following year, Kaif was paired with
Hrithik Roshan in
Zoya Akhtar's coming-of-age dramedy
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The film narrates the story of three friends on a bachelor trip and features Kaif as Laila, a diving instructor who becomes romantically involved with Roshan's character and inspires him overcome his
workaholism. She had difficulty filming her
scuba diving scene due to her inexperience; she was so scared she dug her nails into costar Roshan. The film was a critical and commercial success. Richard Kuipers of
Variety commented that she is "delightful" in the role of a cordial young woman who encourages others to confront their weaknesses.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara received numerous Best Film accolades. The romantic comedy
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011), produced by
Yash Raj Films, starred Kaif alongside
Imran Khan and
Ali Zafar. She found herself challenged by the role of Dimple Dixit, whose loquacious and unpredictable nature strongly contrasted with Kaif's personality. The film opened to mixed reviews, but Kaif was generally praised for her portrayal. The book
Mother Maiden Mistress calls Dimple one of the more interesting female characters of the year. According to Gaurav Malani of
The Economic Times, the film is mainly watchable for "Katrina's live-wire energy wherein she never goes overboard and keeps bustling with vivacity through the runtime." For this performance, Kaif received her second Filmfare nomination in the Best Actress category. proved challenging for Kaif, as its style was new to her. Rachit Gupta of
Filmfare attributed the song's success partly to her "infectious energy", noting her "gyrations and belly movements were an onslaught of attraction for the fans".
Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express wrote about her performance: "Katrina is an able, animated foil to Salman, her long legs making her leaps and kicks credible". With worldwide earnings of ,
Ek Tha Tiger was the
highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year. and
Shah Rukh Khan at the premiere of
Jab Tak Hai Jaan, 2012 Later in the year, Kaif was paired with
Shah Rukh Khan in
Yash Chopra's
swan song, the romance
Jab Tak Hai Jaan. She expressed her excitement at working with Chopra, saying he "undoubtedly is the king of romance and I have always admired the way he presents his heroines. It was always a dream to work with him and the reality is even better." She played Meera, a woman who vows to end her affair with her comatose lover if he survives. Although the film received mostly positive reviews, Kaif's performance had a mixed reception. News18 deemed Kaif inexpressive in her part and found her struggling in emotional and complex scenes. Commercially, the film proved a box-office hit with revenues of worldwide. Kaif later participated and walked the ramp in a fashion show that was held in memory of Chopra. Kaif rejoined Shah Rukh Khan for his 2013 "Temptations Reloaded" concert in
Muscat, performing to an audience of over 18,000, and joined Shah Rukh Khan,
Deepika Padukone and
Pitbull in
Kolkata for the opening ceremony of the
2013 IPL season. In 2013, she appeared briefly with
Aamir Khan in
Vijay Krishna Acharya's action thriller
Dhoom 3. To prepare for her role as a circus performer, she undertook a year-long regimen of
Pilates,
functional training and
aerial straps. The film received ambivalent reviews and Kaif was criticised for taking on an insubstantial part, though Taran Adarsh found her to be "ethereal" and "moving with incredible grace in dance numbers". Earning in box-office receipts,
Dhoom 3 became the
highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time until it was surpassed by
PK in 2014.
Career fluctuations (2014–2018) Kaif's next appearance was in
Siddharth Anand's
Bang Bang! (2014), a remake of the 2010 action comedy
Knight and Day. She played a bank receptionist who is unwittingly caught up with a secret agent (Hrithik Roshan). Raja Sen of Rediff.com disliked her performance, describing it as "insufferable". The film was commercially successful, though financial analysts observed that it had failed to meet box-office expectations. Kaif's sole appearance of 2015 was with Saif Ali Khan in Kabir Khan's Mumbai-based
post 26/11 counter-terrorism drama
Phantom. To prepare for the role of former RAW agent Nawaz Mistry, Kaif learned some
Arabic.
Phantom and Kaif's two releases the following year—
Fitoor and
Baar Baar Dekho—were commercial failures.
Abhishek Kapoor's
Fitoor is an adaptation of
Charles Dickens'
Great Expectations in which Kaif played a role based on
Estella Havisham along with
Tabu and
Aditya Roy Kapur. Namrata Joshi found Kaif good in scenes where she dances, smiles or flirts, but inadequate in dramatic parts. Suresh Mathew of
The Quint observed that the poor critical and commercial reception of
Fitoor was particularly significant for Kaif, as unlike her contemporaries at this time, she failed to carry a film on her own, and her performance was panned. She was paired with
Sidharth Malhotra in
Nitya Mehra's science-fiction romance
Baar Baar Dekho. Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express found Kaif expressionless but praised her and Malhotra's energetic dance number in "Kala Chashma", which amassed over one billion views on
YouTube. Also in 2016, she joined other Indian celebrities for the "Dream Team Tour", where they performed in various American cities. in 2017|alt=Katrina Kaif looking to her right Kaif next acted opposite Ranbir Kapoor in
Anurag Basu's comedy-adventure
Jagga Jasoos. The film was released in 2017 after delays caused by changes in the script and multiple reshoots. The film opened to a mixed critical response and was a commercial disappointment.
Mayank Shekhar from
Mid-Day praised Kaif and Kapoor for being confident before the camera, but
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV noted Kaif's failed attempt to hold her own against Kapoor. In the same year, Kaif reteamed with Salman Khan, reprising the role of
Zoya in Ali Abbas Zafar's action thriller
Tiger Zinda Hai, a sequel to the 2012 film
Ek Tha Tiger. The film premiered on the
Christmas weekend to strong box office collections, eventually grossing over worldwide to rank as her highest-grossing release. Rachit Gupta wrote that Kaif compensated for her limited dialogue by convincingly performing the scenes with
hand-to-hand combat and gun fights, calling it "invigorating to see a lady kick-ass with so much élan and pull all the punches like they're real". A
BBC article by Shubhra Gupta on Bollywood's objectification of female characters found Kaif's status as an action heroine refreshing. Kaif's two releases in 2018—the period action-adventure film
Thugs of Hindostan and the romantic comedy-drama
Zero—were made on lucrative budgets. Despite being among the most anticipated releases that year, both films were unsuccessful at the box office. With respect to the failure of the former, Kaif admitted to have not invested much in the project due to her limited screen time. Though
Zero received mixed reviews from critics, Kaif's portrayal of an alcoholic actress earned her critical praise; Udita Jhunjhunwala of
Mint credited her for delivering "what could be considered her most authentic performance". Calling her one of Bollywood's "scene stealers" in 2018, Sukanya Verma thought Kaif was a "revelation" and her "constantly crying eyes, poker-faced cynicism and wholehearted submission to demeaning impulses underscore the fragility under the furore". For
Zero, she received a
Zee Cine Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare nomination
in the same category.
Resurgence (2019–present) , pictured promoting
Bharat in 2019 In 2019, Kaif once again collaborated with Salman Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar in the drama
Bharat, an adaptation of the South Korean film
Ode to My Father (2014). Kaif replaced
Priyanka Chopra in the role of an engineer who falls in love with Khan's character. Kaif rejected media speculation that she accepted the part as a favour for her friend Khan and cited her appreciation of the script.
Bharat became one of the
highest-grossing Hindi films of 2019. While reviews of the film were varied, Mike McCahil of
The Guardian noted the "well-tended chemistry" between Kaif and Khan and thought "the sincerity in her gaze" helped the audience ignore her character's questionable choices. Kaif's only 2020 film would have been
Rohit Shetty's
Sooryavanshi alongside Akshay Kumar, but the
COVID-19 pandemic in India caused it several delays until its final November2021 release. An admirer of Shetty's larger-than-life directing style, Kaif played the wife of Kumar's character.
Sooryavanshi was a box-office success, briefly becoming India's highest-grossing film of the year. Kaif next played a ghost in the comedy horror film
Phone Bhoot (2022), opposite
Siddhant Chaturvedi and
Ishaan Khatter. Reviewers from
The Indian Express and
The Week were unimpressed with her comedic timing. Kaif next reprised her role as Zoya in
Tiger 3 (2023), as part of the
YRF Spy Universe. She considered the two-month physical training to perform her stunts in the film to be the most challenging of her career. A reviewer in critic
Roger Ebert's website wrote that Kaif "gets to steal a couple of scenes", in particular a combat sequence in a bathhouse, while maintaining a superior allure with a gun compared to her co-star Salman Khan.
Tiger 3 had the biggest opening weekend of Kaif's career, and went on to gross over worldwide. Kaif described the process of filming the Tamil version as particularly difficult, as she did not understand the language. Writing for
Scroll.in, Jhunjhunwala praised the chemistry between Sethupathi and her, and added that "Kaif captures Maria's fragility and cheerfulness with an openness that is rare to find in her performances". The film failed commercially despite its positive critical reception. == Personal life ==