KAJOL............

Kajol Biography

Kajol Devgan / Mukherjee , born August 5, 1975 in Mumbai, India, popularly known as Kajol, is six-time Filmfare Award-winning popular Bollywood actress and is one of India's most successful actresses.Her height is 5 ft 5 inches.

Kajol comes from a Bengali family with a long history in Indian cinema. Her mother Tanuja was an actress; Her father is Shomu Mukherjee; her cousins Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukherjee and Mohnish Behl are also part of the industry. Her aunt Nutan, grandmother Shobhna Samarth and great grandmother Rattan Bai have all been influential figures in the Bollywood film industry. Her younger sister Tanisha recently started a film career. Kajol is married to actor Ajay Devgan. Her uncles are Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee. (See Mukherjee-Samarth family)

Kajol's paternal grandfather Sashadhar Mukherjee was a film director and producer who had left a great achievement in the Bombay film industry. His wife Satirani Devi, Kajol's grandmother was the sister of three great film personality Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar. Kajol is of Bengali-Marathi descent.

Kajol married actor Ajay Devgan on February 24, 1999. She is the mother of a baby girl, Nysa, who was born in April 2003.

Kajol left school and started her career at the age of seventeen. Her debut film was Bekhudi in 1992. It was not a great success at the box office, but Kajol was noticed and went onto become a successful actress with many box office hits to her credit.Kajol shot to fame with her second film Baazigar in 1993 which was her first major hit.



She went onto make a popular pairing with her Baazighar co-star Shah Rukh Khan in Karan Arjun (1994), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001).Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was so well received that, as of April 2007, it is still showing in a Mumbai cinema, an eleven-year continuous run. Kajol received her first Best Actress Award from Filmfare for her performance in the film.

In 1997 she starred in "Gupt: The Hidden Truth" which was one of the highest grossing films of that year and her performance raked a significant development for female actors in Bollywood; she was the first female actor to have won the Filmfare Best Villain Award.

Her second Filmfare Best Actress Award was received for her performance in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which was the biggest hit of that year.She also made a successful screen couple with husband Ajay Devgan in movies such as Ishq (1997) and Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998).

After the successful Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001 which she won several Best Actress Awards including her third Filmfare Best Actress Award, she took a sabbatical from full time acting for five years. She gave birth to her daughter Nysa in 2003. A few months after her delivery, she made a brief cameo appearance in the 2003 film Kal Ho Naa Ho.



Before her comeback to the silver screen, in 2005, Kajol had already started acting actively in advertisements, mostly with her husband Ajay Devgan. In May 2006, she made a successful comeback in Fanaa, one of the highest grossing films of the year. She won her fourth Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in this movie, portraying a blind Kashmiri girl who fell in love with a Kashmiri independence fighter.

Her fourth Filmfare Best Actress Award places her at par with other famous Bollywood actresses, Meena Kumari and Madhuri Dixit each of whom holds 4 Best Actress Awards from Filmfare. Kajol's late aunt, Nutan is holding the record for five such awards.Later in August 2006, she made a brief appearance in her friend Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna in the "Rock n' Roll Soniye" song. This was the film for which she was offered her comeback role, but which she declined over Fanaa instead.Currently, she is working on her husband Ajay Devgan's directorial debut U Me Aur Hum which is set for release this year. She is also set to give a guest appearance in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om.

It seems Kajol is poised for a very successful comeback with several projects in the near future in addition to U Me Aur Hum. Among them are Kunal Kohli's next as-yet untitled film where she will star alongside Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherji. The project may set off in October 2007. Then there is Rajkumar Santoshi's upcoming film Ramayan where she will star as Sita opposite her husband Ajay Devgan.

In addition there are numerous reports and rumours abound that Kajol is all set to star in Karan Johar's next film opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Work is expected to begin on it towards early 2008.



Kajol Mukherjee Detailed Biography

Born to star actress Tanuja and Shomu Mukherjee, acting was in Kajol?s blood line as her great grandmother Ratanbai, her grandmother Shobhana Samarth her mother Tanuja and aunty Nutan were all well known renowned actresses of their time. She schooled in Panchgani's St. Joseph's Convent. She admits that she was an average student whose scoring subject happened to be English literature. Eventually, she got herself enrolled in Sophia College but later gave upon studies to join the movies at the sweet age of 16. There are people who depend on beauty. But Kajol knows she's not one of them. She doesn't care if her look is unperfected. Not that she makes an effort to be unglamorous but she just- doesn't consider a perfect hair-do and the oh-so-sophisticated attire to be beautiful. Swathed in simple, young clothes, bereft of any obvious make-up, she's so totally unconventional. This being central to her identity, it's no surprise that she defines herself in her own terms and becomes something that's never been seen before. There's never any danger that Kajol would be a carbon copy of anybody. She was only nine-films-old, and her best actress trophy for DDLJ had affirmed the all-round opinion that she is one hell of the feisty actress.

She may not be a classic beauty, but is definitely sexy. She looks appealing playing a dauntless girl and also wins you over with her little girl's vulnerability. With her, we can never talk about a one-dimensional surface. There's something or the other constantly unfolding. Maybe because she's a paradox, she has this versatility, which allows her to play a variety of roles. And a lot of non-bimbo roles, you see. She's smart but she's able to play characters that don't essentially have to be smart.



She wanted fame but she never wanted anyone to put her up on a pedestal. Not shallow and yet transparent. As a little girl with resolute convictions, Kajol began pursuing her acting career quite earnestly. When she got her creative outlet, she cleverly avoided following the trajectory of other young performers who, after rising early, crash and burn. She wanted to be an artiste, and not just a piece of decoration. With her emotions lying so close to the surface that we find her so real on screen. No wonder, film makers like Yash Chopra can sense that she's like a piece of fine glass that can come out sheer, more transparent and with a keener edge if handled rightly. If Yeh Dillagi caused tremors of the unusual kind, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge was a truly earth-shaking event.

Five years down, Kajol shines on in the constellation once occupied by her grandma Shobhana Samarth, mum Tanuja and aunt Nutan. Nominated first time in 1995 for the film Yeh Dillagi, Kajol was disappointed when the award went to Madhuri Dixit. But she didn't lose hope and won the 1996 Best actress award for DDLJ. According to her, an award means an acceptance and appreciation of your work... and that's what makes a trophy valuable. She felt that the biggest compliment ever paid to her was that she was competing in the same category as Madhuri Dixit. She never felt close to the role she played in DDLJ of Simran and whatever she displayed on the screen was out of her imagination. Rajiv Rai's murder-mystery Gupt, which was a major hit, had Kajol in lead, where she played a villainess to win her childhood love. Sapnay and Hamesha, was a semi-flop but Kajol's work was appreciated. Indra Kumar's Ishq was her next hit.

Kajol's other super hits in a row were Pyar To Hona Hi Tha opposite her hubby Ajay Devgan and Sohail Khan's Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which went on to became a blockbuster which also bagged Kajol many awards that year.



Right after the success of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kajol decided to get married with Ajay Devgan. Kajol Weds Ajay : Feb 24, 1999 at 1:00 PM. It was a quiet ceremony with only close relatives and friends attending it. Before the wedding, Ajay & Kajol went to the gurudwara in Andheri, and later a simple ceremony was held at Ajay's residence Varsha, in Juhu, at 7 in the evening. Mehndi was held a day before in Kajol's south Bombay apartment. For their honeymoon, the couple went to Europe, Egypt, and then later Australia.

Kajol took a long gap in the movies and there were rumors that she is quitting films but then she did two films opposite Ajay Devgan : Dil Kya Kare and Raju Chacha. Both films flopped at the box office. But success or flop doesn't matter to Kajol.

Kajol signed Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, which was released at the end of 2001, which got trumenodus success. The film did prove that Kajol is different from others and that her marriage didnt affected her even a bit.

She had the best role to play in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum and she bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Actress 2002 and Lux Zee Cine Award's Outstanding Performance of the year 2002 for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Ghum.

Kajol is the best actress in Bollywood today. Her mom Tanuja , has also acted in a lot of films. Her sister Tanisha, who acts in some T.V. programs in India, presently employed by BPL Cable. Her dad's name is Somu Mukherjee, and he's a producer. Acting is in Kajol's blood. Kajol's parents are split up, though she sees both of them, and says that she wasn't affected a great deal by their split.


Kajol, one of the most successful actresses of Bollywood, was born to actress Tanuja and producer Somu Mukherjee. She comes from a filmy family, her grandmother Shobhna Samarth and great grandmother Rattan Bai have been major figures in Bollywood. Famous star of yesteryears, Nutan is her aunt and Rani Mukherjee, another equally successful actress, is her second cousin. Her childhood was laden with happiness and material prosperity.

Though she has the girl next door image and is not as glamorous as the others in her field, Kajol is outstanding in her acting. The flexibility of her acting can be seen from the various characters done by this natural actress. She gives more attention to her acting than the financial success of a film.

Kajol debuted with the flop film 'Bekhudi' (1992), but she made an impact with her second film 'Baazigar' (1993). This was followed by a fabulous performance in the family drama, 'Udhaar Ki Zindagi' (1994) for which she received rave reviews. Her next movie was 'Yeh Dillagi' (1994) where she showed her full range of acting along with Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan. In 1995, she had a hit 'Karan Arjun', with Shahruk Khan. The same year she paired with Ajay Devgan, in two action thrillers 'Gundaraj' and 'Hulchul'. Her 'Dilwale Dulahaniya Le Jayenge'(1995) with Shah Rukh Khan shot her to the top most position in Bollywood. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in this film.

She did not do many films in the year 1996. In 1997, she played a villainous role in Rajiv Rai's murder mystery 'Gupt' and became the first woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award. Then she was again paired with Ajay Devgan in Indra Kumar's romantic comedy, 'Ishq' which was a huge commercial hit. But the same year, 'Sapnay', a remake of the Tamil hit 'Minsaara Kanavu' with Arvind Swamy and Prabhu Deva, failed at the box office.



The Year 1998 was good for her with three successive hits such as 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha' with Ajay Devgan, 'Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya' with Salman Khan and 'Dushman' with Sunjay Dutt. But the real blockbuster of the year happened towards the end, with Karan Johar's 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' where her character Anjali played a frivolous role with her boyish look in the first half and a very different sophisticated role in the second. Then came movies like 'Dil Kya Kare' (1999), 'Hote Hote Pyar Hogaya' (1999) etc which failed to draw the same response at the box office.

She got married to actor Ajay Devgan on February 24, 1999 and a daughter Nysa was born to them in April 2003. After her marriage she became selective in her roles and joined Ajay Devgan's production company. She was seen in films like 'Raju Chacha' (2000), 'Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi' (2001), Karan Johar's 'Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham' (2001) and 'Kal Ho Na Ho' (2003). She won the third Film Fare award for her brilliant performance in 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'. After this movie, she stayed away from the film industry for a while. In 2006, she came back enacting the role of a blind Kashmiri girl with Aamir Khan in Kunal Kohli’s 'Fanaa'. Aamir and Kajol showed sparks of brilliance and created an incredible chemistry between their characters.

Charming Kajol, with her simplicity, girl next door attitude and exceptional acting talent has won over the audience and has a steady fan following. She is the brand ambassador of Whirlpool products along with her husband. Her younger sister Tanisha appeared in films like 'Neal 'n' Nikki', 'Sarkar' etc. Kajol's eventful journey from 'Bekhudi' to 'Fanaa', shows the power of her versatility, sheer hard work and dedication towards art behind all of her roles. She doesn't give more importance to publicity or celebrity because she believes acting is purely a profession. No wonder then that Kajol is rated as superb among her generation of leading ladies...