Kajol, one of the most successful actresses of Bollywood, was born to
actress Tanuja and producer Somu Mukherjee. She comes from a filmy family,
her grandmother Shobhna Samarth and great grandmother Rattan Bai have
been major figures in Bollywood. Famous star of yesteryears, Nutan
is her aunt and Rani Mukherjee,
another equally successful actress, is her second cousin. Her childhood
was laden with happiness and material prosperity.
Though she has the girl next door image and is not as glamorous as the others in her
field, Kajol is outstanding in her acting. The flexibility of her acting can
be seen from the various characters done by this natural actress. She
gives more attention to her acting than the financial success of a film.
Kajol debuted with the flop film 'Bekhudi' (1992), but she made an
impact with her second film 'Baazigar' (1993). This was followed by a fabulous performance
in the family drama, 'Udhaar Ki Zindagi' (1994) for which
she received rave reviews. Her next movie was 'Yeh Dillagi' (1994)
where she showed her full range of acting along with Akshay
Kumar and Saif Ali Khan.
In 1995, she had a hit 'Karan Arjun', with Shahruk
Khan. The same year she paired with Ajay Devgan, in two action
thrillers 'Gundaraj' and 'Hulchul'. Her 'Dilwale Dulahaniya Le
Jayenge'(1995) with Shah Rukh Khan shot her to the top most position
in Bollywood. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance
in this film.
She did not do many films in the year 1996. In 1997, she played a villainous
role in Rajiv Rai's murder mystery 'Gupt' and became the
first woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award. Then she was again paired
with Ajay Devgan in Indra Kumar's romantic comedy, 'Ishq' which was
a huge commercial hit. But the same year, 'Sapnay', a remake of the
Tamil hit 'Minsaara Kanavu' with Arvind Swamy
and Prabhu Deva, failed at the box office.
The Year 1998 was good for her with three successive hits such as 'Pyaar
To Hona Hi Tha' with Ajay Devgan, 'Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya' with Salman
Khan and 'Dushman' with Sunjay
Dutt. But the real blockbuster of the year happened towards
the end, with Karan Johar's 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' where her character Anjali
played a frivolous role with her boyish look in the first half and a
very different sophisticated role in the second.
Then came movies like 'Dil Kya Kare' (1999), 'Hote Hote Pyar Hogaya'
(1999) etc which
failed to draw the same response at the box office.
She got married to actor Ajay
Devgan on February 24, 1999 and a daughter Nysa was born to
them in April
2003. After her marriage she became selective in her roles and joined
Ajay Devgan's production company. She was seen in films like 'Raju Chacha'
(2000), 'Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi' (2001), Karan Johar's 'Kabhi
Kushi Kabhi Gham' (2001) and 'Kal
Ho Na Ho' (2003). She won the third Film Fare award for her brilliant
performance in 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'. After this movie, she stayed
away from the film industry for a while. In 2006, she came back
enacting the role
of a blind Kashmiri girl with Aamir Khan in Kunal Kohli’s
'Fanaa'. Aamir and Kajol showed
sparks of brilliance and created an incredible
chemistry between their characters.
Charming Kajol, with her simplicity, girl
next door attitude and exceptional acting talent has won over the
audience and has a steady fan following. She is the brand ambassador
of Whirlpool products along with her husband. Her younger sister Tanisha
appeared in films like 'Neal
'n' Nikki', 'Sarkar'
etc. Kajol's eventful journey from 'Bekhudi' to 'Fanaa', shows the power
of her versatility, sheer hard work and dedication towards art behind
all of her roles. She doesn't give more importance to publicity or
celebrity because she believes acting is purely a profession. No wonder
then that Kajol is rated as superb among her generation of leading ladies...
