MUMBAI:

Katrina Kaif’s sizzling number Sexy lady in Race and now an impending item song in the sporty film Blue have given her a sensuous image, but she’s surprisingly uncomfortable with it.

“I want to retain the image of the girl next door. I don’t want the hot image. Even in Sexy lady I’m fully clothed. I’m still the girl next door. It’s not the conventionally sexy kind of song,” Katrina said.

Race, where she’s pitched for the sensuous sweepstakes against Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy, has Katrina pulling out all the stops to erase the homely image.

But she says, “I don’t think so. Everything in Race looks larger-than-life, very fulsome, urgent and exaggerated. The actors are styled accordingly. I haven’t done anything like it. Everyone’s talking about it. I guess that’s a good sign.”

Katrina is equally reluctant to accept she’s doing the most expensive item song ever in Blue.

“I wouldn’t know about how expensive it is, but I’m doing a special appearance in Blue and the song-dance is part of it. Yeah, I’m part of the film in a unique way. Akshay Kumar got me into it.

“As for the expenses, nowadays so many numbers are thrown into the public’s face. I don’t think it’s right for actors to talk about the financial side of a film,” said the actress.

Next, ask her about the status of her relationship with Salman Khan and she clams up. “I’d like to keep that personal.”

Is it right to presume she’s still with Salman? “You can presume whatever you like. You can presume I’m an alien from outer space, if you like. Right now I’m in a very happy place.

“Even rumours of us actresses fighting for space in Race is way off the mark. I’ve my own place in Race. My confidence-level has grown in recent times and, yes, it’s partly because of the hits that I’ve had.”

After a number of films where her voice was dubbed Katrina finally used her own voice in Namastey London. And now she says she has dubbed for Race.

“I’ve been working very hard on my diction. I try to speak in Hindi in my daily dealings.” After being with Salman, who patented the name Prem in a series of films, Katrina seems stuck with another Prem, Ranbir Kapoor, who’s her co-star in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.

“I guess they’re worth being stuck with,” she replied tongue-in-cheek. “I just love the script, my character and Ranbir’s role. He’s so much into his work. I’m also getting there. For me acting is no longer a hobby.”