Kajal Aggarwal MLA Movie Interview

She’s the diva. A star who’s risen step by step through time, surviving competition with seniors, peers and later newcomers, to remain on top of her game even after a decade of her innings. What’s striking about Kajal Aggarwal is how she’s unabashedly proud of her choices, happy in her space and straightforward when it comes to accepting that it’s not always the script that drives her to okay a film.

And other than it all, it’s probably only her who has seamlessly managed to romance heroes of various generations, yet gain wide acceptance. “Touch wood,” she says with a giggle when that’s pointed out to her, as she adds, “I know how difficult that is and I am glad things have worked out well for me. But I think that has been possible because my mind isn’t closed to experiences like this. I worked with Chiranjeevi sir and that was a great experience. Likewise, I am looking forward to working with Srinivas (Bellamkonda). Otherwise too, I have collaborated with so many people and it has never mattered because I feel I need to be sincere to my job.”

Even as she marks a decade, life sure has come a full circle and the actress worked with director Teja in Nene Raju Nene Mantri, almost 11 years after her debut film Lakshmi Kalyanram. What’s more, she is now set to be seen in a film with Kalyanram, who was her first male co-star, again almost a decade later. “I should say this experience is amazing. It feels like I am working with a friend after very long. Of course things have changed for both of us and we’ve grown up, obviously. Back then I was raw and didn’t understand cinema as much but I have evolved over time, and working with him again in such different circumstances was quite an experience,” she shares.

Apparently, the duo had a great time on the sets discussing various aspects of life and Kajal is happy that despite not staying in touch over the years, the vibe was great. “After Lakshmi Kalyanam, I met him only once at a public event but otherwise we never had a correspondence. When you are busy working back-to-back, you never have the time to catch up with colleagues because every free minute you get, you want to spend with family and friends. But even if we meet after so long, the bond remains the same, and in that way there was a lot to catch up on!” she says, as she lights up.

On her role in the film and general change in her approach

Kajal will be seen in the role of an independent girl, who knows her mind and this is quite the graph she seems to have maintained over the last two years. The actress seems to have changed her focus on doing films that give her roles a high priority. Be it the unsuccessful Brahmotsavam where she had a brilliant character or the successful Nene Raju Nene Mantri that saw her take on the garb of a housewife with a mind of her own seriously. What has brought in this transformation, considering Kajal only took on the avatar of a glam doll often?

“So, I’ve become very conscious now. I am an actor and I have to be versatile and I realize you can’t just keep doing or seeking one kind of role all your life. You need to balance it out. I am very happy doing my commercial dance routines as well. I have no problem with it as I have done it my whole life. I totally enjoy all the jhatkas and matkas. Having said that, I have become very conscious now of the responsibility that lays upon us and the need to influence people in the right way as much as I can,” she states.

While she is loving this new phase where she’s taking up diverse roles, we ask her why she never thought of doing more such films at an earlier point in her career, to which she thoughtfully replies, “While a lot more such films are coming to me now, earlier I was so busy that when a film of this sort was offered to me once in a while, I never really had the time to take it up. At one point, I realized that I will have to make time for it. That’s exactly how I am being able to do it now.”

But that apart, she really has fallen in love with being able to play the real woman, as she will be doing in Paris Paris, the Tamil remake of Queen. “I like playing strong characters on screen and I like portraying women in a real way. We are not those typical, come there, dance and go back kind of girls. That’s not what happens in real life. I like doing all that, but I want to explore more and do as much as I can.”

On choosing films

We often hear actresses telling us that the script is of utmost priority when choosing a film. Well, Kajal does agree on that. “Script surely is the most important to me at this juncture. But to be honest with you, there are different reasons for doing different films. I try to focus on the script as much as I can, but sometimes there are other reasons also,” she says with a mischievous smile, and adds, “Straightforward! I am mostly instinctive. But you can’t focus on a script 24×7. We aren’t doing charity here, and have to secure the rest of the life.”

Highlights:

“Script surely is of the most importance to me at this juncture. But to be honest with you, there are different reasons for doing different films. I try to focus on the script as much as I can, but sometimes there are other reasons also,” she says with a mischievous smile, and adds, “Straightforward! I am mostly instinctive. But you can’t focus on a script 24×7. We aren’t doing charity here, and have to secure the rest of the life.”

The moment of realisation

“It took me about five films to realize that this is what I want to do… That this is what I want to do. By the time I did Magadheera, I was quite confident that this is where I have to be,” she concludes.

—Pranita Jonnalagedda