She is more streamlined than ever before – flirty, happy, gorgeous, even with her hair up in rollers like a honey-coloured halo and tissue paper strategically tucked around the neck of her clingy, almost-sprayed-on, Tarun Tahiliani Lycra dress. Success sits well on Katrina Kaif, who has had her best film year yet, with box-office hits like Namastey London, Partner and the more recent, Welcome. She is mellow, though, and certainly comfortable in her own hourglass silhouette. Her comic timing, her celluloid forte, seems to extend to real life as she banters with make-up guru, Clint Fernandes. It is that dress – Tarun has a knack of doing it every time. A stray piece accentuates a curvy behind into remembrances of “a V. Shantaram heroine,” claims Clint. “Oh yeah,” she flashes back. “If it was J Lo standing here, you would admire her, wouldn’t you?” She is not apologetic about those curves!

But, most of all, she is on the right side of cool – in her celluloid roles as well as in person and as a clothes horse. The former supermodel, who has walked the ramp for every major Indian fashion designer, has brought a refreshingly young and mod look to her films, earning a place for herself amongst the stylish-elect. And if this happened quite by chance, we are not complaining. Namastey London is a style revelation of sorts – Katrina laughs, pouts and preens her way through a two-country romp. She carries off those daring minis with elan, her body language screams stylish and her Rocky S salwars sit on her with much pizzazz. Her accented Hindi and English inflections, seem to add to the moment rather than detract and the whole makes for a look that is the better part of glamour. Everything seems choreographed for style whether in sophisticated London or the earthy Punjab countryside. The sometimes trashy side of Bollywood skirts and bursting tees is thankfully not apparent here.

The best part is that Katrina is totally responsible for her look, here, bringing a personal sensibility to celluloid drama. A designer selected from London proved to be a disaster just a few days before shooting began. “The sales were on and I was literally running from shop to shop in London,” recalls Katrina, one of eight sisters, who has grown up in this city, before Kaizad Gustad and the box-office disaster Boom brought her to India. She did a round of all her favourite labels: Miss Sixteen, Diesel, the unusual boutiques of Carnaby Street, London’s street markets.

And, her look works. Perhaps because it is as close to her personal style as any Bollywood rendition can get. Or, perhaps, because she has brought the same freshness to her appearance as she has to her very western character.

“I think it came out pretty good, compared to the time I had,” she says now. “We could have done something really unusual.” She regrets, in fact, that Bollywood does not pay enough attention to styling its heroines. “Unfortunately, due to a lack of time and preciseness, we have not reached the heights we are capable of. The style quotient can definitely be upped. I most often work in conjunction with Rocky S but a lot of times, we are scrambling for outfits just before shooting a song. It’s pretty difficult.” She says that she would love to sit down and really work it out entirely. “I usually play generic glamorous roles which can tie in with almost any look. I would love to do one with fashion quirks like with very colourful handbags or a variety of boots... something like that.”