Kajol Interview: “I Am Privileged To Play Savitribai”

Kajol was seen in a brief but immensely important role in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020). Also starring Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan in principal roles, the period drama hit the marquee on 10^th January 2020, and is still running in several cinemas across the country.

Be it critics or audiences, everyone liked the character of Savitribai that Kajol effortlessly essayed in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. Even with her brief role, Kajol managed to do what several actors fail to achieve with their full-fledged characters. This is probably because she looks at the impact a character can have on the audience and not its length or screen time.

In this interview, Kajol tells what was it like reteaming with husband Ajay Devgn after a massive gap of twelve years, how did their children react to the big-ticket film, how has the character of Savitribai changed her and is there any other historical character that she would like to portray on celluloid. Kajol also reveals that whose biopic she would like to star in.

After a long gap of more than a decade, you worked with Ajay Devgn in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. How was it working with him this time around?

I had a great experience. It is always fun working with him. It is very easy to work with him and after our marriage, it is all the easier for me. We are a doing a film after so many years, but we feel that in our onscreen history, we have done every kind of film on the screen. We have done a rom-com, we have done a husband and wife film, we have done action films, we have done a comedy, we have done every kind of film that is there. So, if we want to do a picture together, we have to realize that we cannot do the same thing again. We have to do something different and we want to do something different and something unique if we are coming together again.

How did your kids react to it?

Kids obviously loved it. Yug really loved that we are working together because he just has to come to on set and my daughter is like “Oh, my God! You are looking so beautiful”, a typical reaction of a girl. I said I am shocked that you think I am beautiful because if Nysa feels that I am looking beautiful, then I must be looking stunning. So, there is no in between in that.

Our history books only provide information about several warriors but they hardly shine light on their emotions and emotional side.

Not at all. Like I have said this earlier also that history has been written in parts. So, there is a beginning, a middle and there is an end. There are obviously no dialogues written and they will not write because historians have written the books. So, I think that is very important that we have to understand that all this happened. All this did happen. Even if there is not anything written about his (Tanhaji Malusare) wife, she must have told something at that time and how she would have said that. They had a relationship; they had a son. If you think about it, there is lots of drama that could have happened. But again, that is not what we are concentrating on but yes that is a part.

Such characters are very rarely written and not everybody gets to play them on celluloid. Were there any changes in you while you played this character?

I definitely respect all women. If we think about our border forces, military or armed forces, I think all the women – mothers, wives, sisters – who tell their sons, husbands and brothers that go and fight, I think they are a very big part of our country and that is the reason we should value our freedom even more today. I think they play a big part about why we have armed forces also. So, I definitely do not think you can put down their value. I think it is just the way you look at them, I think I have always respected them and their will. The character of Savitri… I think I am privileged to play that.

In the coming years, which historical character would you like to play on screen?

There is not any historical character as such. I do not know what I would like to play. I would love to play in a film or a biopic written on my mother Tanuja maybe or even my grandmother, for that matter. I think that would be amazing. I would love to do that.

>>> Read more: Kajol Hit Movies To Prove Her Irreplaceable Place In The History Of Indian Cinema