As Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham completes 25 years this year, Kajol says that a whole new generation of viewers is discovering and revisiting the films that defined her career. The actor says she has had several young people approach her after watching K3G (2001), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha (1998). “There is a whole revival of the ’90s and 2000s scene that has come up,” she shares, adding, “Younger people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, we just watched K3G. We’ve just watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). We’ve just watched Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha (1998). What a cool film it is!’ It’s very exciting.”
Asked which character she identifies with the most, the 52-year-old quips, “Anjali from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I feel like there I was a tomboy then!” For Kajol, the renewed interest in the era goes beyond nostalgia, with younger audiences now discovering the sensibility of films made decades ago. “There is that whole wanting to, you know, watch films like that, which were somewhere, I think, made with a lot of passion and cleanliness,” she shares. “They were kind of much more romanticised than films today. So I think people want films like that. They want to watch films like that. I hope we can make films like that till today.”
Interestingly, while a new generation is discovering her work, Kajol says her own Gen Z children, Nysa Devgn, 23, and Yug Devgn, 15, aren’t keen on watching her films. “They feel I’m a little too convincing in films and that I’m too good an actor at times!” she says. Explaining their take, she adds, “They’re like, ‘We don’t watch your movies because we don’t want to watch our mum cry too much.’” She jokes, “If I was a bad actor, maybe they would have seen more of my films. But because I cry so well on screen, they’re like, no, we don’t watch your movies because we don’t want to watch our mom cry too much on screen.”
Having spent decades in the industry, Kajol has also seen her share of news reports about herself, some accurate and some not. While there have been reports of her joining Atlee and Allu Arjun’s Raaka (earlier titled AA22xA6) and the Prabhas-starrer Spirit, the actor remains unfazed by what is written about her. “I don’t pay attention to all of these news articles, really. I mean, 90% of them are all rubbish anyway,” she says, adding, “The day I do sign a film, I’m very clear about it. People will know within minutes, everybody will knows that I’m doing this.”
