After a debacle called Boom helmed by director Kaizad Gustad (who introduced her to Bollywood) Katrina’s chances looked bleak. Good looking she was, a lack of formal training coupled with unfamiliarity with Hindi, did not help matters. All those problems now seem to belong to the past. After working with a number of directors (Ram Gopal Varma, David Dhawan, Anil Sharma, Abbas-Mustan, Subhash Ghai, Anees Bazmee, Vipul Amrutlal Shah) and then some more, she seems to be settling into a comfortable niche. Sure there is the likelihood of NRI or foreign-educated Indian girls’ roles landing more often in her lap than others but Race could change that.

"I am slowly beginning to understand what characters I should look for…lively, more rambunctious perhaps. I think it is more enjoyable and refreshing to play someone with a lot more personality and life than a typical shy Indian girl," she says.

Last year was packed with comedies and lighthearted offerings-there were Welcome, Namastey London and Partner. And Apne which at best was a valiant attempt to hold her own amidst the Deols -Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby!

And 2008 looks promising too--after Race likely to lend her repertoire a touch of grey, there is Singh Is Kinng an action comedy, Subhash Ghai's Yuvraaj where she plays a cello player in an orchestra. Kaif has reason to feel chuffed.

In a recent interview, she had thanked her co-star Akshay Kumar for believing in her and making her a part of his projects-after Welcome and Namastey London they will now be seen together for Singh Is Kinng and Blue - but she is also poised to working with other actors. There's Yuvraaj wherein she stars opposite Salman (and for the record, Salman did not recommend her, she approached Ghai for the role and expressed her desire to be a part of it) and Kabir Khan's film for Yash Raj opposite John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh. If she is disappointed about being dropped from Siddharth Anand's Bachna Ae Haseeno which has Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone and Minissha Lamba, she does not make it obvious. "There were supposed to be four girls in it but it's all right because I am doing another film for them," is all that she will let slip.

And then there is Raj Kumar Santoshi's next opposite Ranbir Kapoor. "It's a comic love story. He's directing a comedy long after Andaz Apna Apna and I am looking forward to working with Ranbir who is my age group. I have great hopes from this film and Ranbir is also very interested," she enthuses.

She has also landed a two-film contract with Studio 18, added on a few endorsements-soap, haircare products, Mangola Slice among others and made it to the Vogue (India) cover in a Jean Paul Gaultier dress. Her remuneration, she admits, has gone up in proportion to the value that producers feel she brings to a project. And while at it, she has also won herself a high-profile admirer in cricketer Ishant Sharma.

On the personal front, in spite of the constant media speculation about her relationship with Salman, Kaif has doggedly steered clear of controversies. Her family, now based in Chennai, is firmly supportive, as are friends in the industry like Vipul Amrutlal Shah "who is close and understands me."