What was Kajol’s secret ‘fear’---due to which she initially ‘refused’ classic movie ‘Salaam Venky’ ?

It’s always a delight to interact with acclaimed star-actress Kajol who has completed 30 years in Bollywood ,having made her screen-lead-debut with movie ‘Bekhudi’ ( 1992 ). Exuberant and candid in her quotes, laughing heartily is her second nature. The quick-witted ‘DDLJ’ heroine is responding to questions during the media-promotion of her latest movie ‘Salaam Venky’ which releases in theatres on next Friday, December 9th . When her attention is drawn to her completion of three decades as an actress and that her co-star Vishal Jethwa ( who plays her son Venky) is just 28 years, she burst into laughter. Refusing to attach importance to her seniority and impressive track-record, the modest Kajol responds, “My eminent actress mother (Tanuja) has been working for 73 years. Compared to that I have worked only for 30 years and I am like a young child in the acting field and I still have a long, long way to go ahead,” she counters.

Wasn’t it true, that Kajol had initially refused the mother’s role in ‘Salaam Venky’ and much later decided to do it ? Reacts the light-eyed actress, “ That’s right, I refused to sign up for that movie. Although I had tremendous respect for the caliber and talent of Revathy-ma’am both as a former actress and now a director, When I read the story-concept note, I realized that I was not comfortable playing the role of a distressed mother of a young son suffering from critical Duchenne muscle dystrophy. So I frankly told Revathi about my negative decision. But she insisted she would like to come to my office and narrate me the script.”, discloses the ‘Tanhaji’ actress.

Continues Kajol, “ Of course, I had also seen Revathy-ma’am’s fabulously balanced sensitive movie Phir Milenge’(2004) starring Salman Khan , Shilpa Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan. After that I had wished I should work with Revathy-ma’am in future. But it just didn’t happen. When she came to my office and narrated the ‘Salaam Venky script. I realized that it was very well-written and my character Sujata was amazingly etched out.The reason why I had initially refused the movie was because as a ‘real-life’ mother I do not wish to act in movies where I have to pretend all thru that something critical has happened to my child or I get molested. Like in the recent past, I have done a mother-son monitored-bonding subject Hindi movie called ‘Helicopter Eela’ (2018),” explains Kajol who took a day’s time to convey her final decision.

Kajol justifies her subsequent positive decision, “ After hearing Revathi- ma’am’s narration I had the confidence that she would make a beautiful, perfectly- balanced film. If I let my one fear ( which is completely baseless) stop me from doing this movie ‘Salaam Venky’, I would regret this fearful decision for the rest of my life. So I finally decided that I will not let my fear control my actions. That’s when I called up Revathi-ma’am and told her I would be doing ‘Salaam Venky’ and that she should take full care of me. Which she assured she would do. Then we started the shoot ,” explains Kajol who also met the ‘real-life’ simple-woman-mother Sujatha with amazing clarity who had this symbiotic emotional mutual-support and wish-fulfilling bonding with her critically-ill.

The film ‘Salaam Venky’ is produced by Suraj Singh and Shraddha Agrawal through their banners, Blive Productions and RTake Studios, respectively. Kajol ( as mother) and ( son) Vishal Jethwa in the lead roles, the film is centered around a true real-life. story of a mother and her son, Venky, who suffers from critical Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Director Revathy has executed a classic ‘casting coup’ where she has cast both Aamir Khan and Kamal Sadanah in brief-cameo-roles in ‘Salaam Venky’ . It may be recalled that Kamal Sadanah was Kajol’s first romantic hero in her debut film ‘Bekhudi’ ( 1992) . Recalls Kajol, “ It was amazing and so surreal to reconnect with Kamal Sadanah as a co-actor after 30 years. We were in touch and knew what was happening in each other’s lives. But here we were sharing screen-space after so long . “It was amazing-- just the timing of it-- and surreal to work with my first hero Kamal Sadanah after 30 years. And about Aamir Khan , we are working together after ‘Fanaa’ ( 2006). I really respect aamir also because it is evident from all his films that he has managed to keep his interest, enthusiasm and perfectionism in tact,” smiles Kajol.

The film ‘Salaam Venky’ is releasing in theatres on Dec 9 is produced by Suraj Singh and Shraddha Agrawal through their banners, Blive Productions and RTake Studios. Kajol ( as mother) and ( son) Vishal Jethwa in the lead roles, the film is centered around a true real-life. story of a mother and her son, Venky, who suffers from critical Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The supporting ensemble celeb-cast includes Aahana Kumra, Rahul Bose, Rajeev Khandelwal, Prakash Raj, Ananth Mahadevan, and many others