WE NEVER HAD THE BEST CHEMISTRY

20 years after their runway hit — DDLJ, Kajol and SRK speak about their equation and hit pairing

When actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol did Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge exactly 20 years ago little did they know that they would be soon known as Bollywood’s ‘most romantic couple’.

However, unlike popular opinion, SRK never thought that they had a crackling chemistry. At a time when we see a new romantic pairing with every film, we asked the actor if he and Kajol looked best on screen. He says, “It is a little awkward to say that someone can be the same level as Kajol and I. I never felt like we have the best chemistry. We ourselves don’t know how we have this crackling chemistry, so to judge someone else is awkward. When I see e these youngsters on screen, I find their chemistry to be much better than ours.”

Now, the two are working together r in Rohit Shetty’s next and as Kajol says, “It is a strange coincidence that t 20 years later, SRK and I are together, r, working in a film titled Dilwale.”

Ask them if there has been any change in their equation and even before we can finish the sentence, Kajol quips, “I hope we have, it’s been 20 years, and we bloody well have changed. We have changed for the better. But I don’t talk any lesser. We are better people, better actors today. I remember SRK telling me, ‘you are going to kill yourself someday because you have no technique.’ I soon got burnt out and then I did develop a technique. As far as SRK is concerned, he is such a technically superior actor, always has been. Every time I work with him, I learn more.” SRK says, “There isn’t much change in our relationship. When two people work together consistently, you have great respect for each other. Kajol will never do a scene if she isn’t convinced about it. That’s how real she is.”

He narrates an incident. “I had worked with Kajol for two weeks in Baazigar, Aamir Khan had called me because he wanted to work with her. I told him, ‘Bahut kharab hai, bahut bolti hai, you’ll never be able to work with her’. The same evening, we saw a few rushes of Baazigar and we saw that she could light up the screen. I remember calling Aamir, frantically trying to take my words back. I later told him that she is magical on screen.”

PHOTO: WASEEM GASHROO/ HT