Subhash K Jha/TNN

Mumbai, Jun 18: Remember the tamasha that Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan created at Katrina Kaif’s birthday last July in a Bandra restaurant?

How could anybody forget the incident that threatened to split Bollywood down the middle with that other Khan, Aamir, doing his best and failing to patch up the prickly differences that cropped up and still exist between Sallu and SRK! Well, it’s birthday time again, and this year, the sensitive Katrina, who is under a lot of pressure already within and outside Bollywood, seems determined to make her party a happy, safe and stress-free occasion.

The actress is taking off for a rare, full-family reunion in London this July to coincide with her birthday on the 19th. Katrina, while not admitting that the idea is to keep out Salman, has confirmed that she is planning a family holiday in July. “I’ve been burning the midnight oil to make myself free for my family and I’m exhausted and stressed. I can’t wait to go home. Though I’ve met parts of my family on every visit, all of us eight siblings have not been together in nine years... can you believe it! I really want to do this,” said the actress.

She’s the middle sister among seven girls of the Kaif family and has always said it was a traumatic experience to wrench herself away from this family cocoon in London and make a career on her own in Mumbai. According to close friends, Katrina was petrified of the isolation in her adopted place of residence. That’s why when Salman’s family took her in their fold, she reciprocated their affection and remains eternally grateful to them.

Today, the fact that she wants to return home and rejoin her family on an occasion when Salman last year created major embarrassment to her, suggests Katrina’s trying hard to gently move away from her adopted family in Mumbai. She, of course, will be the last to admit this. To BT, the gorgeous actress just said, “I’m so looking forward to being with my sisters. My brother is also going to be in London for the first time in years with all of us sisters. It’s not a holiday for me. It’s a necessity. And nothing can stop me from making it happen.”