When Katrina Kaif relocated to Mumbai, she stated in a recent interview that her goal was to become a model full-time, citing Malaika Arora as one of her role models.

Malaika Arora was a “role model,” according to Katrina Kaif, when she was first starting out as a model in Mumbai. In a recent interview, Katrina reflected on her path with Mashable India. When she arrived to Mumbai and acting happened by chance, she claimed that her main dream was to become a model.

What Katrina said

“My goal was to become a model when I first started out as one in Bombay. Madhu Sapre and Lakshmi Menon served as my role models. Those were the era’s supermodels. And in reality, even Malaika. At the time, she was still modeling. I held these women in high regard. And as a model, that’s what I aimed to be,” Katrina remarked.

Malaika and Katrina are very old friends

Although Katrina and Malaika have never collaborated, they formerly shared an unusual bond. When Salman Khan’s younger brother, actor and producer Arbaaz Khan, got married to Malaika, Katrina was dating her co-star in Tiger 3. Malaika divorced Arbaaz in 2017 before dating actor Arjun Kapoor, whereas Katrina later dated actor Ranbir Kapoor before marrying actor Vicky Kaushal in 2021.

Malaika began her career on MTV in 1997 as a VJ. After that, she started her career as a model and starred in the iconic Gur Naalo Ishq Mitha music video by Bally Sagoo from 1997. In Mani Ratnam’s 1998 love film Dil Se, she made her Bollywood debut with Shah Rukh Khan in the well-known dance song Chaiyya Chaiyya. For the next twenty-five years, Malaika performed dance numbers in films, up until Anirudh Iyer’s An Action Hero last year, in which she shared a dance move with Ayushmann Khurrana on Aap Jaisa Koi. Earlier in the year, she was included in the Disney+ Hotstar reality series Moving in with Malaika. Her next performance will be a cameo in Arjun Varain Singh’s buddy film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, which is set to premiere on Netflix India this Tuesday, December 26.