Two years after Fanah, Kajol lights up the screen once more in U Me Aur Hum. Entertainment Editor, CNN-IBN Rajeev Masand caught up with the actress.
Rajeev Masand: Welcome to Now Showing let me start with the question that comes to you very often. Are you often asked why you work so less these days?
Kajol: As I said before and I would say it again, and again and again. I always was picky and I have gotten really superpicky now. I need something to validate my time away from my daughter. It has to be worth it.
Rajeev Masand: Do you miss the sets?
Kajol: Not really. I didn’t work for two years and I didn’t miss it at all.
Rajeev Masand: We are going to see you in U Me Aur Hum that your husband Ajay Devgan has directed. Did he talk to you about this project when he was developing it just as a project that he wanted to direct and that you come on board later, how did he put it into play?
Kajol: We were just talking about it and I thought that the script sounded really exciting. I asked him what the basic idea was and it was superb. And that was what really got the ball rolling. It just evolved after that.
Actually speaking the script that we heard and what we eventually made came out to be totally different.
Rajeev Masand: We are going to ask you questions that we ask actors on the show, what was the first film you ever saw?
Kajol: I do not remember the first film that I ever saw but we used to watch black and white TV. They televised Chayageet, on Saturday they showed a Hindi film and on Sunday they showed a Marathi film. Those were my earliest memories of movies.
Rajeev Masand: What film are you embarrassed to reveal that you love?
Kajol: I don’t get embarrassed much actually. I am quite bad but I loved Sholay. I know all the dialogues of the film. I really loved the film.
Rajeev Masand: What is your favourite snack while watching a movie?
Kajol: Popcorn that is salted with extra butter or cheese. All that put together and that is very fattening.
Rajeev Masand: What quality did the best directors share with you because you really worked with some very good directors?
Kajol: The best quality that you can ever ask from a director is clarity. As long as you know what the director is doing then you have a good director on hand.
Rajeev Masand: Who is your favourite actor or actress of all times?
Kajol: My actress of all times is Sreedevi, I love her and adore her. She is superb as an actress. I do not know if you do agree with me on this point but I think that she is like a chameleon. I have met her, I have seen her on screen and have watched all the films that she has done. Her fil Chaalbaaz is one of the most entertaining films. She is so much the character and not Sreedevi and I love that about her.
Rajeev Masand: What is your best quality as an actor?
Kajol: My best quality as an actor is that I have a very vivid imagination.
Rajeev Masand: What’s your greatest weakness as an actor?
Kajol: My greatest weakness as an actor is the fact that there are certain things that I believe about myself which I cannot overcome even for taking a risk on a movie or taking a risk in front of the camera.
If I don’t believe that it is looking good or that it is working for me then regardless of whether it is working for me or anybody else, it doesn’t work for me. I do not know whether it is a weakness or a super-critical mind but I consider that as a weakness really.
Rajeev Masand: What will they be writing about your work 50 years from now?
Kajol: I don’t want them to write about my work like that. I will already be 90 and will have one foot in the grave. That’s not me. That is such a long time to go, please.
Rajeev Masand: Best of luck and hoping that you will continuously surprise us with the work of your choices, thank you so much for talking to us.
Kajol: Thank you.