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She has always been in the news. But for all the right reasons. Her latest venture with husband Ajay Devgan, ‘U Me Aur Hum’ released recently. The film may not be doing as expected; nonetheless once again Kajol has come out tops. Its no doubt, the most talented, Kajol has made a definite impact on modern cinema and in the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. She has been constant with change…she has played a different role in almost every film that she’s done.
Daughter of producer-actor duo -- Shomu Mukherjee and Tanuja, Kajol was born on August 5, 1975. She grew up in a powerful filmy setting with her father and uncles ruling the roost as producers and her mother, Tanuja, aunt Nutan, grandmother Shobhana Samarth and great grandmother Ratanbai were established actores par excellence.
Kajol left school St. Joseph’s Convent at Panchgani and has herself claimed to be an average student and started her career when she was barely seventeen. Although she was a student of Sophia’s college she eventually left her studies and took up films, initially more as a hobby than a career choice.
An average looker, she managed to gain a strong foothold in this cut-throat industry with her very first film ‘Bekhudi’ (1992) directed by Rahul Rawail. Although the film bombed, Kajol’s performance made the audience and filmmakers sit up and notice her potential. It was her style and class coupled with immense talent that set her apart from her contemporaries. She has never been the type of actor to be self-involved with her look more than her character and at the same time has not ignored her appearances as well.
Her second film ‘Baazigar’ (1993) with Shah Rukh Khan put her in the big league for her range of acting. Her film ‘Yeh Dillagi’ (1994) paired opposite Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan catapulted her to great heights. The film got her a best actor nomination too but it finally went to Madhuri Dixit. But that didn’t stop her from trying harder as the huge success of ‘Karan Arjun’ (1995) made Kajol the most sought after actor in film industry and she finally got her best lead actor filmfare award in 1996 for the blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. That was like the icing on the cake and Kajol’s real moment of glory came when she rocked the nation with her brilliant performance in Aditya Chopra’s maiden venture. The film was not only the biggest hit of that year, but one of the biggest hits of Hindi cinema ever. The runaway success of the film instantly shot her to the top most position in Bollywood and also brought her, her first Filmfare Best Actor Award.
Not the one to be deterred by any kind of roles, this versatile actor took the bold step by doing an out-an-out negative character in Rajiv Rai’s murder mystery ‘Gupt’ (1997). Her gamble paid off and the film was a huge commercial success. She became the first woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award and Zee Cine Award Best Actor in a Negative Role for the film. This film catapulted her into a new genre of female lead actors to have done a negative role with panache. In the subsequent years Kajol had three successive hits such as ‘Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha’ with Ajay Devgan, ‘Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya’ with Salman Khan and Tanuja Chandra’s ‘Dushman’, with ‘Sunjay Dutt’. ‘Dushman’ was her first attempt at a double role, which wowed audiences and critics alike.
But the real blockbuster of the year happened towards the end, with Karan Johar’s ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. She received the Filmfare Best Actor Award and Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female. The film became somewhat of a cult film that the youth loved to watch.
Kajol then decided to tie the knot with Ajay Devgan after the success of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and on the 24th of February 1999 they got married at around 1.00 pm. The ceremony was a very small one with close friends and relatives only which was later followed by another simple ceremony at Ajay Devgan’s apartment at Juhu. They flew down to Europe and Egypt later followed by Australia as well for their honeymoon. But being married was not the end of Kajol’s career, as many would have believed, on the contrary she went on to do Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ in 2001 for, which she won several Best Actor Awards including her third Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Lux Zee Cine Award's Outstanding Performance of the year award. It was only after this that she took time off from acting to concentrate on her family life. She gave birth to her daughter Nysa in 2003. However, a few months after her delivery, she made a brief cameo appearance in Karan Johar’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. The film was a superhit. No wonder then Karan considers her as his lucky mascot and makes sure that almost every film that he makes, she does at least a small part in it.
Five years later, in May 2006, Kajol made a successful comeback with ‘Fanaa’, one of the highest grossing films of the year. She won her fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award for her performance in the movie, portraying a blind Kashmiri girl who falls in love with a terrorist.
With so much success to one’s credit, anyone in her place would have gone berserk signing films left, right and centre. But not Kajol. For she believes, family comes first. She considers motherhood to be her exclusive role in life. Her daughter Nysa is her top priority today. She can give up everything and anything for her. Besides, she is at the beck and call of her family at all times, no matter who she is with or where she may be.
And films? They can happen when she chooses to.
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