Actress Katrina Kaif has brushed aside reports that it cost Rs5.5 million (Dh297,300) to colour her hair red for filmmaker Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor, saying that “it’s not even possible”.
“I don’t even think that’s possible, even if you want to ... It is all a kind of slightly sensationalised piece of news that comes out and gets highlighted, which more often than not turns out to be baseless,” said Kaif in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.
Regarding her hair colour and style in the film, Kaif said that it was the director’s idea “with a symbolic connection”.
“This was an idea which Abhishek had. The thought behind it was when the leaves fall in Kashmir and the whole ground turns red ... It was a symbolic connection as the colour red signifies passion, love and fire,” the Phantom actress said.
“We took a lot of pictures and a lot of discussion and once we had locked in on the hair colour, and then just took one day to do it and shot the whole film in three to four months. Then I dyed the colour back, and it was black again,” added the actress, who recently launched L’Oreal Paris’s new La Vie En Rose signature collection.
Kaif has even issued a statement denying the rumours around her multimillion hair colour, which according to the gossip mills could have been used to fund education for several students.
“The wonderful thing about being an actor is that people are interested in what you do. But there are also lots of misleading and untrue articles that also come out. And because I am not on any social media platform yet, I don’t have the chance to contradict every rumour.
“The team who worked on my hair, did a great job. It was a great idea put forward by Abhishek. As kind and wonderful that our producers are, I don’t think they are that kind. I don’t think I would have been very nervous had Abhishek not been very confident in supporting me.”
London-based hair expert Daniel Galvin, who has worked on tresses of celebrities like pop star Madonna and the late Princess Diana, was roped in to work up the magic on Katrina’s tresses for the film.
The film’s director has also clarified that there’s no truth to the Rs5.5 million story.
“I can’t help but smile when I read these speculative reports of money spent on Katrina’s hair. They are outrageous. But what’s important is Katrina and Tabu (who also sports red hair) both look amazing and in my humble opinion, their hair even more so. So let’s just compliment the ladies,” Kapoor said in a statement.
Fitoor is an adaptation of Charles Dickens classic novel Great Expectations and will have Kaif playing Firdaus, while Aditya Roy Kapur will portray the character of Noor.
The film also stars Aditi Rao Hydari, Lara Dutta and Rahul Bhatt. Fitoor will hit the theatres on February 12.
