I love acting. I tell my children, you should love what you are doing, says Kajol

Even before Kajol enters the room her characteristic laugh gives her away. The poster girl of the 90s, her infectious charm and vivacity made her the national heartthrob, but it was her uninhibited performances which made her the designated scene stealer.

Dressed in a satin red wrap around dress, her hazel eyes shine bright as gets set for her latest series The Trial- Pyaar Kanoon Dokha, an adaptation of the hit American series, The Good Wife. She confesses with a chuckle that she is anything but a good wife.

“I am a terrible wife — I am not a good wife. I think every wife should claim to be a bad wife then only will they get some points for being normal and good. Usually the wife is seen as someone who is always undermined, and taken for granted.”

Kajol plays Noyonika, a homemaker compelled to don on legal robes, after her husband is implicated in a sexual assault case. She reveals playing a lawyer for the first time in her 31-year-long career was welcoming, but it was the graph of her role which personally resonated with her at many levels.

“Her choices are her own, and what you think is right you instinctively do it. I love the fact that she starts off shaky and becomes unapologetically herself. I completely got her and understood her. We have this commonality, when you come down to a crunch you will do what it takes whether it is judged rightly or wrongly by anybody else, you will stand your ground.”

Great time for actors

An actor who by her own admission admits being choosy and lazy, has been her busiest the last couple of years. Last seen in Salaam Venky and Lust Stories 2, she says, “I love acting, it’s something I enjoy. It is my free time... my playtime... I tell my children, you should always love what you are doing. This is a great time, we are creating the change we want. You can write something and someone will make it, and as actors we are living in exciting times, especially thanks to OTT. People have seen so much content and have started looking at films differently. It is pushing us to have better and higher standards.”

Marriage & kids

The 48-year-old actor celebrated her 24th wedding anniversary with husband Ajay Devgn in February, this year. By her own admission, to marry at the peak of her career at 25 years of age was a tough decision but the best one. She reveals with a laugh motherhood has cured her of her impulsiveness and impatience.

“I used to be very impulsive, one of those people who at 2 am could get into the car and drive off. But my impulse control has come down after having kids, the biggest lesson they teach you is patience and forethought. Am so calm that the hockey stick in my car hasn’t been in use in a while now,” she says jokingly.

But being a celebrity and a mother has brought its own challenges. Though the constant spotlight on her children daughter Nysa and son Yug is something she takes in her stride. However it is the trolling that her 20-year-old daughter has been subject to, which irks her.

“I think somewhere it has given Nysa her strength. She has been hounded since she was 2 years old, people are passing nasty comments and the disgusting narrative. But she has been strengthened by overcoming it. We have had a lot of conversations where I explained if one person is saying horrid things to you there are 300 people on the other side who say you are amazing. For Ajay and me, the sun rises and sets with both our kids.”

With a sense of pride she says, “Nysa has taken her father’s sense of logic, but she has my temperament and smile, thank god!”

Last seen opposite her husband Tanhaji in 2020, she says as long as the project merits it they will share screen space together. How about an action film? She responds with mischievous glint, “Well the film started 24 years back... we still have not reached the midway point.”

Any plans to take direction in the future? “I think direction requires a certain temperament and compassion, I am not made that way, my set will turn into a reality show,” she chuckles.

As we wrap up, is there an experience in life she would never want to re-experience? “A life without vanity vans, back in the day during schedules we would be stuck on an island, with no loo on site, but thank God there were no mobile camera’s then.”