(Top) Rosa now; (above) Rosa then, with Saif Ali Khan

Rosa Catalano, so reticent all these years, speaks to t2 about starting over by signing a reality show....

Every time you spot Bollywood’s latest twosome Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, hand in hand, with one’s hand flaunting the other’s tattooed name, spare a thought not just for Kareena’s former beau Shahid Kapoor but also for an Italian belle who, not so long ago, was on that very arm of the Chhote Nawab.

Rosa Catalano, a voluptuous big-boned beauty, was known more for her silent presence than headline-grabbing moves. In fact, she shunned public life except when in the protective company of her man.

Today, the woman, into her 30s and out of love, is making a new beginning, bit by bit.

“I have been called back,” she insists about her return to India, “and as a professional, I keep my commitments.” The voice across the phone is soft.

Rosa has turned to her one-time love to find her feet in the country — dancing. She will be appearing in a dance-based reality show called Yeh Hai Jalwa to go on air on 9X on March 16, at 8pm.

“I used to dance waltz, tango, flamenco… but I never learnt ballet,” she says (yes, with the ‘t’ at the end). As a child growing up in a small town in Italy, she would dance to “hip hop, R&B — anything with rhythm”.

“I was dancing since I was four. Ours was a big family and our house was full of people. There would be about 30 people every weekend. Whoever stayed for lunch also stayed back for dinner.”

Perhaps Rosa’s next comment — “Mama makes the best pizza in the world” — explains why that happened.

The core Catalano family has three sisters and a brother. “My oldest sister Concetta is ‘verry’ lazy. She loved the sofa and the TV. But my younger sister Diala is very graceful. She has already won two dance competitions in Italy.”

Diala, it is apparent, picked up her passion seeing Rosa, 10 years older to her. “I loved to dress up and dance before the mirror in my room. I used to change five times a day and Mama used to get very upset.”

Rosa left home at 23 to live close to where she found work. And then India and Saif happened. But we let that pass. For as the talk turns perilously personal, she blurts out: “Please ask me about the show. I am afraid I will not finish answering all that you want to ask me about the show.”

She was breathless when she had taken the call. “I was practising, you see. I do not know what kind of dance I will have to do and I have never danced on stage.”

The Catalano clan is very excited about her impending television appearance. “Diala called to ask what kind of dance I’ll do, what I’ll wear. My family is also sad that they can’t see it. But if I make it to the finals, I’ll fly her down. I must,” says Rosa.

But she has been on TV before, hasn’t she? In that advertisement? “Yes, Royal Stag,” she quickly adds, before one can say “with Saif”.

So why didn’t she leave India for good? “It was tough, very tough. I have sacrificed a lot,” the voice is barely audible now.

Rosa did go away to Italy for two weeks after the break-up. “But I was called back. And I have also changed. I am learning the language (Hindi). It (India) is a good place. I think I am at the right place at the right time.”

One sure hopes so, for her sake.