Daily Times

Katrina Kaif is now one of Bollywood’s biggest female stars, but when she was about to make her debut in the Indian film industry, she had to first be rebranded as Indian. Raised by her single British mother, Katrina’s original name is Turquotte. She adopted her father’s name when she joined Bollywood.

But in several interviews over the years, Katrina said that she didn’t stay in touch with her father, reportedly a Kashmiri man settled abroad, after he separated from her mother when she was very young. In a 2010 interview with The Times of India, Katrina was asked if she has ever been to her father’s hometown. She said, “No. I have no idea where it is. My mother and my father – when they split, we were very young. And for reasons my mom would like to keep private, they went their separate ways and the contact after that was very, very bare minimal.” Katrina said that ‘unfortunately’, and ‘not out of choice’, her father has had no influence on her and her siblings’ upbringing, or on their ‘religious, social and moral bearings’. But in a 2009 interview with the Indian Express, Katrina said that she ‘missed’ having a father around when she was growing up. “I do feel that sense of loss,” she said. Asked if she has been in touch with him, she said, “No. When I see friends who have wonderful fathers who are like pillars of support for their families, I say, if only I had that. But instead of complaining, I should be grateful for all the other things I have.”