'I can't work with Vivek'

Kat's purring these days. And with good reason. Not only is she waiting for her love's labour "Yuvvraaj" with beau Salman Khan to release but has also bagged a film with the biggest Khan in Bollywood today, Shah Rukh.

The fact that Salman and SRK are katti for now hasn't dampened her enthusiasm one bit. In fact, it was at her birthday that the two friends became ex-pals. Salman called SRK a matlabi and King Khan in turn made nasty cracks about his ex-girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. Much noise was made about the spat in the media and poor Rani Mukerji too got caught in the two Khans' fight when she urged them to bury the hatchet (not into each other).

Given all this, how did Salman allow Katrina to work with Shah Rukh? "See, whatever happened was between the two of them. I wasn't involved. Both have come out in the open and spoken about it to the media. But at the end of the day, they're senior professionals from the film industry and they have been around much longer than I have," Kat says. She asserts that there's no awkwardness between Shah Rukh and her due to the fight and so, none in her relationship with Salman either.

However, one person who the original hot bod of Bollywood just wouldn't let her work with is jaani dushman Vivek Oberoi. Salman still hasn't forgiven Vivek for calling a press conference and accusing him of threats over Ash. Not that Katrina minds not working with Vivek. "There's only one person whom Salman has made his displeasure very clear about for which he has a very valid reason. I think he is very uncomfortable with his friends being around Vivek. Everyone knows about it because Salman has spoken about it," says the pretty actress. Seeing the way Vivek's career is going, that may not be such a huge loss.

But for Vivek it sure is. Her career is soaring, she's the modern-day King Midas. The lady's been belting out hits after hits and now, in "Yuvvraaj", she's paired with Salman. The promos are heating up the screens and she's sporting an interesting look in the film as well. "The role is a wonderful one of a cello player. I was told to play the cello in the film like I was dancing. I moved my fingers the way I would use my feet to dance and it worked. The scenes came out great. Anyway I had a great teacher to show me how to play the instrument," she says excitedly.

Katrina's pairing with Salman in the film is looking pretty fresh, even though they have starred together in "Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya" and also "Partner".

"It's great to be paired opposite someone who you know and who has been close to you. This film is a little more special to me in the sense that it is looking very good. It has a good story and it is a film which I think is going to be on celluloid forever. It has the makings of a romantic classic."

The film is special to Salman too, not only because he's paired with his lady love but also because he's working with producer-director Subhash Ghai for the first time after their very public brawl. Salman had actually slapped Subhash eight years ago in a suburban hotel. But his father Salim Khan dragged him over to the director for an apology and the two have patched up since. "Salman has a special equation with Subhash Ghai. They have had their ups and downs and so Salman wanted it to be a very special film," Katrina says.

She's lately been pretty thick with Akshay Kumar, and has given back-to-back hits with him. So what does he have to say about his favourite leading lady being paired with someone else? "Akshay is a sweetheart. He is a great friend of mine. But then when we are not on the sets, he hardly calls me up for a chat. He is a very busy person. He does not have the time to call up people and talk to them. Every minute of his time is managed to due to his commitments," she says, sidestepping the question. The answer seems to be that Akki has nothing to say about her new film sans him.

Katrina wants "Yuvvraaj" to continue her hits spree that began with Namastey London. She's given nothing less than six hits in a row. "I am praying for one more hit now. Yuvvraaj means a lot to me and the destiny of the film is in the hands of the audience," she finishes.

The audience seems too mesmerised with her to resist her films.