When Nana Patekar calmed down a trembling Katrina Kaif before her big speech in Rajneeti

Katrina Kaif and Nana Patekar in Rajneeti

Katrina Kaif took on some challenging roles quite early in her career. One of them was the 2010 film Rajneeti, directed and produced by Prakash Jha. Katrina played the role of Indu Pratap, who is eventually elected the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Her character is shown to be in love with Ranbir Kapoor's role, but is married to his brother Prithviraj Pratap (Arjun Rampal). Her character was based on Draupadi from Mahabharat.

In the film, Katrina was required to deliver a speech in front of a large crowd. Recalling the famous sequence, Katrina reveals on the Mid-day's Sit With Hitlist that she was super nervous during the shoot. Actor Nana Patekar helped calm her down. "Walking on the stage, my hands were trembling. I remember Nana sir saying, it's fine. It's going to be fine," she recalls.

During the interview, Katrina also talks about how she wanted to play Anushka Sharma's role in Zero, and went to great lengths to try and convince director Aanand L Rai to cast her in it. "I actually wanted to play Anushka's role," Katrina tells us.

Wasn't she supposed to play a double role initially? "That was when the film was called Katrina Meri Jaan - that was another script altogether," she reveals.

Another opportunity she really wanted for herself was to act in a Yash Raj movie early in her career. The actress almost got a role in Bachna Ae Haseeno, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead. "Bachna Ae Haseeno, I was supposed to be the fourth girl. That character got cut," she says. The role was removed at the scripting stage. The film was finally made with Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minnissha Lamba as the three female leads.

Over the years, Katrina has also impressed audiences with her many dance numbers, from Shiela Ki Jawani to Chikni Chameli. But when she had just entered the film industry, her dance skills were nothing to write home about. She also got flak for it on the set of the Telugu film Malliswari. Katrina recalls, "I was on a South Indian film set with Venkatesh. Someone on the mic said, this girl just can't dance!"

Watch the full interview of the actress on the newest episode of Sit With Hitlist, out on March 2.