The First Mukherjee

"Kajol is hardly the kind of heroine you think should be a romantic heroine, you know? She's not your regular kind of heroine. She's quite demented." --Shah Rukh Khan



No discussion of contemporary Hindi cinema can take place without the mention of Kajol. A fourth generation actress, Kajol's rise to the top of Bollywood came as no surprise. What is surprising is her apparent ambivalence about the movie industry, walking away into a semi-retireship after dominating Bollywood for a decade, still at the height of her career and popularity. None of this seems to bother her. She's happily married to Bollywood A-lister Ajay Devgan and enjoys motherhood so much she's unsure if she'll ever pursue acting again.*

Brash, uncensored, and confidently unapologetic about what she says, Kajol will tell you she's not a good actress because she can't do a shot if she doesn't believe it's honest, or something she feels the character would really do. However, she is widely believed to be the best commercial actress in India, winning awards for some of Bollywood's biggest hits. Directors and actors often speak of her uncanny ability to pull pranks and joke around on film sets one minute and then effortlessly do an emotional or serious shot the next. She says she's merely doing what she's paid to do, but this natural acting ability has stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan and countless directors begging for her return to film. Rani Mukherjee, Kajol's second cousin, might be the current reigning queen of Bollywood, but Kajol has an entire nation under her spell, hoping she'll return to film with at least sporadic consistency.



*Kajol hasn't starred in a film since 2001, and except for a brief special appearance in Karan Johar's Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kajol has remained absent from Bollywood. However, Kajol has signed to star in Kunil Kohli's next film, opposite Aamir Khan, with an expected 2006 release. She's said she's using this film to determine how much she wants to be involved with films in the future. Fingers crossed that this goes well.

(I should probably mention something about her trademark unibrow before I close this post. Kajol refuses to wax, pluck, or shave it, saying that it's a part of who she is. And somehow she pulls if off, remaining absolutely beautiful.)

My favorite Kajol films:
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)--with Shah Rukh Khan
Sapnay (1997)--with Prabhu Deva and Arvind Swamy
Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997)--with Bobby Deol
Ishq (1997)--with Ajay Devgan
Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998)--with Ajay Devgan
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)--with Shah Rukh Khan
Dil Kya Kare (1999)--with Ajay Devgan and Mahima Chaudhary
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)--with Shah Rukh Khan

Up next in my Bollywood series: Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan