Hollybollywood

Katrina Kaif & Kareena Kapoor are artists of two different genres of film but fate couldn’t be more unkind the similarities between them are too many to be ignored. Bebo has been around for years and she has done tons of performance-oriented films. Her body of work is different. How can we compare them? No we wont because they are natural-born nemies.

So as things stand it is a photo finish for Bollywood No.1 and No.2 heroine. Kareena is the ruling diva. Katrina is the darling of the masses. But 2009 saw Katz upsurge Bebo by giving two super hits New York and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and one average runner De Dana Dan. She also won every popularity poll — be it the sexiest Asian woman or the most desirable girl etc.

Of course, the invincible Bebo bounced back. Kareena who lost ground with Kambakht Ishq, Kurbaan and Main Aur Mrs Khanna socked Katz a solid blow when she landed the biggest Bollywood hit of all time — 3 Idiots. She also features on all the award nomination lists.

As we see it today it is hard to choose between Kareena and Katrina. They’re both neck-to-neck. People here respect talent (Kareena Kapoor) but they also give a lot of importance to Friday numbers (Katrina Kaif). Now the distance between the No.1 and 2 girls is becoming asphyxiating says a film producer. He adds, “I have signed Katrina for my film... but it could well have been Kareena. However since the hero is Ranbir, I was forced to take Katz. To me both are equal at this point.” Trade sources say Katz’s advantage at this point is that she makes a super team with Ranbir Kapoor who is a hot favourite.

However, what Kareena has is that she is the darling of the Khans. Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan have given her their unstinted support in 2010. She is likely to team up with the other hottie Imran Khan, too. If Katz has Imtiaz Ali on her side, Bebo has Karan Johar on hers. Even the endorsements that these two actresses are doing are highly interchangeable. If one has the size zero (Bebo) advantage, the other one has the Barbie Doll (Katz) image in her favour. So give or take — whatever they may say — the distance between Katz and Kareena is too close for comfort.

Katrina is said to be fearful of her numero uno position in tinsel town (especially from Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra) and has been sending feelers to ace filmmakers like Madhur Bhadarkar. For example, Priyanka was able to convince the industry about her acting skills only after working in Madhur’s ‘Fashion’ and later in Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Kaminey’. On the other hand, Katrina Kaif’s flicks have been either romantic like ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani’ or have other dominant heroes, which prevents her from claiming the success of the film to be of her own acting and talent.

Even otherwise, Katrina Kaif has only ‘Rajneeti’ and after that Abbas Mustan’s ‘The Italian Job’ to fall back on in her war with Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Though there have been talks of her signing Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana 2’ and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Tees Maar Khan’ etc, but these are yet to be signed and sealed.

On the other hand, Kareena Kapoor is fresh from the success of Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’ and also has other prestigious films like Karan Johar’s ‘Stepmom’ lined up at the box office this year.

Now the brawl between the two actresses has taken a new turn. Though Kareena claims that she is not competing with any actresses and satisfied with her own space, the actress has shown her disliking for her rival Katrina when she refused to give away award to her in a recent award function. When the organizers asked Bebo to give a particular award to Kat, she declined saying that in the past Kat has done the same to her and now why not she should do the same now.

Let’s see what stored for the actress in 2010 and who score higher.