Mumbai, Aug 10 (IANS) Bollywood actor Imran Khan got slapped 16 times -- and that too by his co-star Katrina Kaif!

Before one draws any conclusions, Imran had to go through the torture for a scene in their upcoming film "Mere Brother Ki Dulhan", releasing Sep 9.

The romantic comedy, helmed by debutant director Ali Abbas Zafar, had a scene where Katrina had to slap Imran. But to the actor's misfortune, Katrina took more than 16 takes to get the slap right!

"We did that scene 16 times... 16 takes and finally the packup happened," Imran told reporters here.

"Next day when I came onto the sets for the next scene, I was told that Katrina is not very happy with the scene that we did yesterday so she wants to shoot it again, only the slapping part. So we did more takes," he added.

A much-amused Katrina justified herself by saying that she is quite a perfectionist.

"I take a while to get into the mood of the scene. The first time I slapped him, I didn't get the feel right. It's important to be convinced with the scene you are doing. So till the time it wasn't perfect, we did it," she added.

Yash Raj Films' "Mere Brother Ki Dulhan" is a love triangle that also stars Pakistani actor-musician Ali Zafar.

Imran, who is playing a central character in the film, also revealed that initially he didn't want to be part of the film.

"Aditya Chopra had called me last year and told me that I want you to meet this boy Ali. He is directing his first film and has a lot of talent. Then I met Ali and he told me that I'm making a film called 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'. I didn't say anything but I thought ... 'What a horrible title'.

"Then he told me that it's a story of this guy who finds a girl for his brother and then himself falls in love with her. So I thought that it sounds like such a bad story. I didn't tell him all this, but just said that I will call him," narrated Imran.

It was actually Imran's mother, actor Aamir Khan's sister, who egged him on to take up the project.

"I did not read the script, but my mom found the script and read it. She called me and told me that I should read the script and do this film because it is hilarious. So I read it, I loved it and finally decided to do it. His script just won me over. Initially I was not doing it, but now I'm so glad that I did it," added Imran.