Zareen Khan talks about comparisons to Katrina Kaif (Photo: Zareen Khan / Instagram)

In 2010, when Salman Khan launched actor Zareen Khan in Bollywood, she was often compared to Katrina Kaif. While her debut film Veer was released with a lot of hype, Zareen had to go through quite a lot to get to the next phase of her career. Recently, when Zareen appeared on Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa’s podcast, she revealed that her resemblance to Katrina was actually the biggest hindrance in her career.

On the podcast, Zareen spoke about her life after Veer and said, “Life after Veer was very bad for me, I got a lot of criticism. The film was a life-changing moment for me. Initially, I felt very happy that I was being compared to Katrina Kaif, but within the industry, things kept getting worse. For me, who used to be overweight, being compared to Katrina was huge, but it all backfired. I felt like a lost child in the industry, plus there was hesitation. I didn’t know most people here but they started to feel I was arrogant because Salman Khan launched me.”

Zareen also revealed that she received a lot of harsh criticism and at one point, she thought about staying at home to get away from the noise. “There was a time I was even scared to step out of my house because people would comment on my clothes. That comparison went in a very negative way. I was given so many names, that at one point, I wanted to just sit at home. They all saw me as a failure,” she said.

Zareen said that this criticism affected the offers coming her way but she couldn’t afford to stay home and thus, chose to take projects that she was being offered. She shared, “I was not getting work for a very long time after Veer. Perception about me changed after the song ‘Character Dheela’ in Ready. That time, I was taking up whatever work was coming to me. I don’t come from a wealthy household, I am the sole breadwinner of my house, so at that time, I wanted a job to run my home. Then Hate Story came, but it was a very weird time in my life…”

Zareen also shared that she had signed a sex comedy alongside Sharman Joshi which was written by Haarsh Limbachiyaa but that film never took off, and in place of that, she was offered Hate Story. Zareen was last seen on screen in 2021 in Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele.