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KUCH NOSTALGIA HOTA HAI
Kajol talks about her fond memories of making Kuch Kuch Hota Hai on the film’s 20th anniversary
To say that Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which released on this date in 1998, is iconic would be an un derstatement. Everything abo out Karan Johar’s film, right fro om the trend-setting fashion to tthe music and the casting (SRRK, Kajol, Salman Khan and Ra ani Mukerji), finds takers eve en today. It remains one of Ka ajol’s most memorable per rformances as the tomboytur rned-stunner, Anjali. Her fac ce lights up when you me ention that 20 years have gon ne by in a jiffy.
It’s s hugely nostalgic. Twenty yea ars is a long time. Most im portantly, the film has so ma any memories attached to it. We e went to Ooty (Tamil Nadu) to sshoot. We stayed in a hotel tha at had just come up. We were the e first people to stay in that hot tel. We were there for 40 day ys. I can’t imagine how they put t up the set in Ooty, in the mi ddle of a valley! They had cre eated this set of houses, sum mmer camp. It was an amazing feat. I remember Yash (Johar; Karan’s father) uncle clearly; he’s one of my fondest memories of the film. He was this huge driving force behind the way everything was done. It was also his production house’s first film! He was very confident. I thought he would be a little insecure on the first day, but he proved me wrong. He took command of the situation, and made sure he was the captain of the ship. That was pretty much my character from the beginning. ‘Spunky’ is a nice way to put outspoken. There were harsher words to describe me earlier! It came down to ‘spunky’ once KKHH released. Yes, a bit harsher than bubbly. I don’t think I ever fed into it. I never tried to hide that I was intelligent, well-spoken and direct. I thought for myself, had an opinion, and never hid that. That’s what people thought of me then, and what they think of me now. It takes time and effort to fit into anybody’s mould. I’m lazy like that.
Kudos, I hope they can. I know they won’t be able to recreate our magic, that’s not possible! Yes, and he (Karan) wanted me to dub for it, but it never got finalised.