I’M THE COMEBACK QUEEN NOW: KAJOL
...jokes the actor about her next film being called her ‘comeback’ film by a number of people
While many male actors ‘prefer’ not having a release every year or some not releasing a film every two years, female actors disappearing from the scene for even one is deemed as them being out of the race. Perhaps, therefore, many are calling the film Ela, Kajol’s comeback, as she will be seen in a Hindi film after a gap of three years, her last Hindi film was Dilwale (2015). Kajol’s only release after that was Tamil film VIP 2 (2017). Unperturbed, however, the Padma Shri actor says “I’ve had so many of these ‘comebacks’, I’m now like the ‘comeback queen’! I am like a bad penny, I just keep coming back (laughs).” Kajol, who is busy shooting for this mother-son story, adds, “I liked the script honestly, liked the lines, everything. I like my character of Ela (a single mother), I identify with many of her things.”
Besides the big screen, the actor will now also be seen inside Madame Tussauds, Singapore, which will have her wax statue. It has statues of personalities such as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hollywood actor Marilyn Monroe.
“Oh My God! Really?” was Kajol’s first reaction. “After the initial euphoria, I realised that it was a big honour to be featured alongside such figures. Being compared to some of them is too much. It’s a pleasure,” she says. How did Ajay Devgn (actor, husband) and her two kids, Nysa and Yug take the news? “Being happy and proud is everyone’s general reaction. But I haven’t been really able to explain it to Yug (since he’s too small). I’ve just told him ‘There’s this thing of me in Singapore’. His only question was ‘That’s cool! Are we going to Singapore?’”
She’s the first one from her family to get her own wax statue. Her mother and aunt are veteran actors Tanuja and Nutan, respectively, and her father Shomu Mukherjee was a renowned director.
“Let me say that I am super-proud of my mom, my aunt, my grandmom, my father, grandfather — poori family! All of them deserve to have much more than I have. I don’t think I’ve achieved even a bit of what they had. I’m not trying to be humble... all of them are amazing people and personalities who achieved a lot more than me. My family is very proud of the fact that I am going to be ‘waxed’,” she laughs, adding, “Also, I refuse to take any pressure of any kind. I am proud of where I am and who I am today, so this honour doesn’t really put any pressure on me.”