Kajol has said that she believes her contemporary heroes have the huge responsibility of making a film hit and that is what restricts them from experimenting and doing roles as diverse as she has been doing. She added that it was her personal opinion and not a fact backed by any statistics.
Kajol’s most recent outing is Revathy’s directorial venture Salaam Venky which features her as Sujata, the mother of a 24-year-old man suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The film is based on Shrikant Murthy’s book The Last Hurrah which was inspired by the true story of Kolavennu Venkatesh and his mom.
Asked to talk about her contemporary heroes such as Shah Rukh Khan romancing 20-year-olds while she plays a mom to a 24-year-old, Kajol said at the Agenda Aaj Tak, “I think the heroes of our film industry, in fact, feel they are in this nut for a reason. And the reason is that the film industry is a business at the end of the day. Whatever you do at the end of the business, every hero has to pull in that much to make that film a hit. It’s a huge responsibility on their heads.” She added “disclaimers and qualifiers” to specify that it is her opinion, not a fact.
She added, “Somebody asked me this question, ‘You have grown as an actor and your contemporaries have not grown as diverse as the roles that you have done’. I think that really has to do with the fact that they are also stuck down the line because of the number game. They are shouldering that responsibility.”
Next up, Kajol has the web series The Good Wife, an Indian adaptation of the American courtroom drama of the same name.
Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan is set to return to films after with the action thriller Pathaan and Jawan.