Zareen Khan on comparisons to Katrina Kaif: 'No filmmaker wants to work with a duplicate'

Zareen Khan, who made her acting debut opposite Salman Khan in 2010 film Veer, has claimed her constant comparison to actor Katrina Kaif has not worked in her favour at all as "no filmmaker wants to work with a lookalike or duplicate".

In her 11-year-long film career, the actor has starred in in films such as Housefull 2, Hate Story 3, Aksar 2, 1921 besides a few special dance numbers such as Mahi Ve in Wajah Tum Ho and Khallas in Veerappan.

Zareen was recently asked about her resemblance with Katrina during an interview with Navbharat Times. She said, "People come in the industry to create an identity for themselves and not to be someone else's lookalike or shadow.

I have struggled to make a place for myself in Bollywood for 11 years, but till date, people tag me as Katrina's lookalike. No filmmaker wants to work with a lookalike or duplicate."

Claiming that she has not just been likened to Katrina but a few more Bollywood actors as well, Zareen said, "I think I have a universal face. I apparently look like a lot of people. Some call me Pooja Bhatt's resemblance, some say Preity Zinta, some even state I am Sunny Leone's lookalike. I don't understand why don't I ever look like Zareen Khan to people."

Zareen also cited few other examples of actors who couldn't make it in Bollywood due to their comparisons to other more established stars.

She mentioned how Sneha Ullal was also launched by Salman in Lucky but was termed as Aishwarya Rai's lookalike and it ruined her career.

She further named Ameesha Patel who was said to resemble Amrita Singh and Harman Baweja who was called Hrithik Roshan's duplicate.

Zareen was expecting a few releases in April last year, including two music videos, a Hindi horror film, two Punjabi films, but all came to a standstill due to lockdown.

She is still awaiting the release of her film, Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele, the release of which was postponed due to the pandemic.