85 Facts About Kajol

1.

Kajol Devgn, known mononymously as Kajol, is an Indian actress.

2.

The daughter of Tanuja and Shomu Mukherjee, Kajol made her acting debut with Bekhudi while still in school.

3.

Kajol subsequently quit her studies, and had commercial successes in Baazigar, opposite Shah Rukh Khan, and Yeh Dillagi.

4.

Kajol gained critical appreciation for playing a psychopathic killer in Gupt: The Hidden Truth and an avenger in Dushman.

5.

Kajol won two more Best Actress awards at Filmfare for starring in the romantic thriller Fanaa and the drama My Name Is Khan.

6.

Kajol has featured as a talent judge for the reality show Rock-N-Roll Family in 2008, and holds a managerial position at Devgn Entertainment and Software Ltd.

7.

Kajol has been married to the actor and filmmaker Ajay Devgn, with whom she has two children, since 1999.

8.

Kajol's mother, Tanuja, is an actress, while her father Shomu Mukherjee was a film director and producer.

9.

Kajol's cousins Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukherjee, and Mohnish Behl are actors; whereas Ayan Mukerji is a director.

10.

Kajol describes herself as being mischievous, stubborn, and impulsive at a young age.

11.

Kajol's parents separated when she was young, but Kajol was unaffected by it since the matter was never discussed at home.

12.

Kajol was looked after by her maternal grandmother, who "never let me feel that my mother was away and working".

13.

At sixteen, Kajol began work on Bekhudi, which according to her was a "big dose of luck"; she was cast by him when she visited the studio of the photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha, who wrote the film's screenplay.

14.

Kajol made her acting debut at age seventeen in the 1992 romantic drama Bekhudi alongside another debutant, Kamal Sadanah, and her mother Tanuja.

15.

Kajol played Radhika, who falls in love with Sadanah's character against her parents' disapproval.

16.

The film turned out to be a box office flop, but Kajol's performance gained positive notice.

17.

In 1994, Kajol appeared in Udhaar Ki Zindagi as an orphaned girl who visits her estranged grandparents.

18.

Kajol gained wider public recognition for her role in Yeh Dillagi, a romance produced by Yash Raj Films and based on the 1953 American play Sabrina Fair.

19.

Kajol starred as Sapna, a chauffeur's daughter who becomes a model and catches the interest of the two sons of her father's employers.

20.

In 1995, Kajol had two major commercial successes opposite Shah Rukh Khan: Karan Arjun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

21.

Kajol explained her minor role in the film, saying that she wanted to be in an ornamental role and admitting she had nothing to do in the film except be glamorous.

22.

Kajol spoke of her attachment to the project and her full emotional involvement with her character, Simran.

23.

The director Rajiv Rai said that he "tapped the versatile artistry in Kajol", commending her for the finesse she brought to the part.

24.

India Today noted Kajol for outpacing her co-stars, and The Times of India wrote in 2016 that she was "probably the first to have broken her goody-two-shoes image".

25.

Kajol eventually became the first female actor to be nominated for and win the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role.

26.

In later years, Kajol said she accepted the part to avoid typecasting and expressed her desire to play more roles of the type.

27.

Kajol found dancing alongside Deva difficult and it took her dozens of retakes and rehearsals to get the steps right.

28.

Kajol played Priya Amalraj, a convent student who aspires to become a nun, and her voice was dubbed by actress Revathi.

29.

In 1998, Kajol reinforced her status as a leading actress of Hindi cinema by featuring in the three highest-grossing productions of the year: Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai; all of which were nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Film, with the lattermost winning it.

30.

Kajol next played twin sisters, Sonia and Naina, in Dushman.

31.

Kajol played the comic role of Sanjana, a clumsy woman who travels from Paris to India in search of her philandering fiance, but falls for another man.

32.

The biggest success of 1998 for Kajol was her final release of that year, Karan Johar's directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

33.

Kajol played Anjali Sharma, a tomboyish college student who is secretly in love with her best friend from college.

34.

Kajol explained that she accepted the role solely "because it had shades of grey".

35.

In Rahul Rawail's Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi Kajol played twin sisters who are separated at birth.

36.

Later that year, Kajol played a leading role in Karan Johar's ensemble drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

37.

Kajol played Anjali Sharma, a young Punjabi woman from the Chandni Chowk area who falls for a wealthy man.

38.

Kajol identified herself with the character's noisy nature and found similarities between it and that of Hema Malini in Sholay.

39.

The role required Kajol to speak in Punjabi, a language she was not fluent in, and although she struggled at first to master it, she achieved the pronunciation and diction with the help of producer Yash Johar and some of the crew members.

40.

Kajol revealed that she did not quit the cinema, but became more selective of her role choices and wanted to put more focus on her marriage.

41.

Kajol portrayed Zooni Ali Beg, a blind Kashmiri woman who unwittingly falls in love with a terrorist.

42.

Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu wrote Kajol is enough of a reason to watch it, and Deepa Gahlot believed Kajol's conviction in the part made up for the film's flaws.

43.

Kajol considered her husband's directorial debut U Me Aur Hum a special film in her career.

44.

Kajol spoke of the challenge and difficulty dubbing for the film.

45.

Kajol's role was dismissed as not having provided her with scope to perform.

46.

Kajol followed it with a second hiatus upon the birth of her son in 2010 although she provided voiceover to the opening credits of the Hindi version of the fantasy film Eega, which released in 2012.

47.

Kajol portrayed Meera Dev Malik, the daughter of a mafia don who falls for a man from the rival family.

48.

Kajol's performance garnered Best Actress nominations at various award ceremonies, including Filmfare.

49.

In 2017, Kajol starred opposite Dhanush in Velaiilla Pattadhari 2, a sequel to the 2014 masala film Velaiilla Pattadhari and her second Tamil-language film after Minsara Kanavu.

50.

Kajol was cast as Vasundhara Parameshwar, the chairwoman of the construction company Vasundhara Constructions.

51.

Kajol was somewhat apprehensive about doing the film but eventually accepted the role due to her faith in Dhanush and director Soundarya Rajinikanth, citing them for giving the bravery she needed to acting in a non-Hindi-language film.

52.

Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 opened to a negative critical reception but succeeded financially, but Kajol was praised for her elegance and suitableness to the role.

53.

In 2018, Kajol portrayed a helicopter mother with an aspiration to be a singer who enrolls at her son's college to complete her education in the drama Helicopter Eela, based on Anand Gandhi's Gujarati play Beta, Kaagdo.

54.

Kajol was particuraly drawn to the role for its colourful personality and her relationship with her son.

55.

Kajol is full of verve, and her enthusiasm is infectious even when her intensely eager character comes across as too chirrupy.

56.

Kajol played Tanhaji's wife Savitribai whom she called a strong character which she found similar to herself.

57.

Kajol found resemblance between the relationship of the three leading characters and her own with her mother and daughter.

58.

In 2022, Kajol starred in Revathi's family drama Salaam Venky which received mixed reviews from critics and audience, with praises mostly directed towards the leads' performances.

59.

In 1998, Kajol participated in concert tour "Awesome Foursome" alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, and Akshay Kumar.

60.

Kajol clarified she was not involved in its production aspect, but participated in the supervising and overseeing.

61.

Kajol featured as a talent judge with husband Ajay Devgn and mother Tanuja in Zee TV's 2008 reality show Rock-N-Roll Family, which she found to be a much tougher experience than that of in films.

62.

Kajol was named a part-time member of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati in 2016.

63.

Kajol has been actively involved in several philanthropic endeavours related to women and children.

64.

Kajol is involved with Shiksha, a non-governmental organisation for children's education, and in 2009 she launched a campaign to support the cause.

65.

In 2011, Kajol participated in a fashion show organised by the Cancer Patients Aid Association, to generate funds for the organisation, and as the international goodwill ambassador and patron of The Loomba Trust.

66.

In 2012, Kajol was appointed as the brand ambassador of Pratham, a charity organization for children, and she featured in a short film on education and literacy, with the Hanuman Basti Primary School's students in Mumbai, to support it.

67.

Kajol began dating actor Ajay Devgn in 1994, while filming Gundaraj.

68.

Kajol maintained that she would not quit films, but would cut down on the amount of work that she did.

69.

Kajol prefers not to talk much about her personal life and dislikes being interviewed, considering it "a waste of time".

70.

Kajol gave birth to a daughter, Nysa, on 20 April 2003.

71.

Kajol described motherhood as "fab" and added that her kids brought out "the best in her".

72.

Kajol speaks English, Hindi and Marathi, and "can understand Bengali".

73.

Kajol was praised for her lively and spirited nature on-screen.

74.

Rajiv Menon credited Kajol as representing the joie de vivre of the 1990s, and Khalid Mohammed described her as "a great packet of talent".

75.

Kajol has been paired with the actor Shah Rukh Khan in many successful films, and commentators have described them as one of the greatest, on-screen pairs of the Hindi cinema.

76.

Unlike most of her contemporaries, Kajol has had a successful career post-marriage and motherhood, for which she was characterised as "the archetypal New Age woman".

77.

Kajol continued to work in films but has been more selective, attributing it to the lack of worthy offers and her unwillingness to see herself in "films that are absolutely meaningless".

78.

Kajol defended this by saying of her preference to working with people she is comfortable with.

79.

Kajol has been criticised for her lack of interest in maintaining her appearance.

80.

Kajol was listed in Box Office India's "Top Actresses" for five consecutive years, topping the list in 1998.

81.

Kajol peaked the fifth position as "the all-time favorite female star" in a 2008 poll conducted by Outlook.

82.

Kajol was included on Forbes Indias "Celebrity 100", a list based on the income and popularity of India's celebrities, in 2012,2013 and 2017.

83.

In 2002, Kajol was presented with the Rajiv Gandhi Awards by the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress.

84.

Kajol was one of the four Bollywood actors, alongside Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan, whose miniature dolls were launched in the United Kingdom, under the name of "Bollywood Legends" in 2006.

85.

Kajol unveiled her wax statue at Singapore's Madame Tussauds museum in 2018.