15 Years Of Namastey London: When Katrina Kaif Felt Her Career Was ‘Over’ After Watching The Film

Hard as it is to believe, it has been 15 long years since Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar-starrer Namastey London was released in cinemas. Namastey London is special for more than one reason.

Not only the Vipul Shah directorial drew everyone’s attention to leading lady Katrina’s acting chops, it also kickstarted comedian and actor Vir Das’ film career. The movie was received positively upon its release, and included names like the late Rishi Kapoor in its star cast.

During an earlier appearance on Karan Johar’s chat show Koffee With Karan, Kaif had said she was nervous about the movie’s reception as she saw herself dominating most of the screen time. It should be noted that up until this film’s release, Katrina was mostly considered a pretty face in Bollywood, who was included in the cast to add beauty and glamour. “I just saw too much of me in the film and you start believing what people say,” the actor had said.

In fact, Katrina was so sure of Namastey London’s failure that she wanted to leave the city before the doomsday came knocking on the door. “I am packing my bags and I am going to find a new career,” Katrina had said that this is what she intended to do after having attended the film’s screening. But when the movie turned out to be a major success critically as well as commercially, she was pleasantly surprised. “That was really nice, it was really important for me because I think it did change people’s perception. It was the first time I got so many calls even from the industry, from directors saying, ‘I think you did pretty well in the movie’.”

As mentioned earlier, Namastey London turned out to be a milestone not just in Katrina’s career, but in beloved comedian Vir Das’ career as well.