Kajol says mom Tanuja explained everything to her like an adult: 'Whether it was my parents breaking up...'
Kajol talks about her upcoming film Tribhanga, playing with some colourful language and the relationship she shares with her mother, Tanuja.
Kajol will soon be seen in Netflix's upcoming original film, Tribhanga. Directed by Renuka Shahane, it tells the tale of mothers and daughters and their sweet and salty relationships. Kajol pays an Odissi dancer daughter to Tanvi Azmi's writer mother. They share a soured relationship that perhaps only a tryst with death can mend.
However, in real life, Kajol can hardly hope for a better relationship with her own mother, veteran actor Tanuja. Kajol has only the best things to say about her mother, who she says always thought of her as an emotionally mature person, who deserved to know things as they were.
Watch: Kajol, Renuka Shahane, Tanvi Azmi mothers, daughters and Tribhanga
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Kajol has revealed how Tanuja would patiently discuss everything with her, including her separation with her husband, late filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee. "I never had a rebellion as such with my mother. I had the most amazing relationship with her because she is amazing. Everything that she did in my life, every decision that she made, she explained it to me in the way I could understand it. Whether it was my parents breaking up, whether it was going to work or being a working woman. Whatever the bigger points in my life, she sat down, discussed with me, explained it to me, she waited for me to understand, figure things out and accept them before she got up from her chair and said ‘discussion over’," Kajol said about her mother.
Tanuja had previously said in a 2003 interview that she and Shomu met and 'fell in love'. But 'what happened later is not important except that we are not together anymore'.
Kajol is in awe of her mother's parenting style and wishes to do as good a job as she did with her own kids. "My mom is amazing. I tell her this also. I am grateful for her upbringing of me. I feel like I am a better person and adult today because of the things she taught me when I was a child. She always spoke to me like she wanted me to be a better adult. If I have done even a quarter of that with my daughter and my son, I think I would have brought up two wonderful kids," she said. Kajol is mum to daughter Nysa and son Yug.
Tribhanga is dissimilar not only to Kajol's life but also to who she is as a person. Tribhanga's Anuradha doesn't shy away from using the dirtiest language to get her point across. Kajol, whom we had never seen using such colourful words on screen before, assures us that she is far more modest in real life.
"To be honest, everybody around me has very colourful language. It is not something I have hidden from or cannot do. It is a choice not to use those particular words. I don’t feel the need to do it most times. This is such a weird conversation!," she said.
But that does not mean she didn't have a bit of fun with it. "I enjoyed myself thoroughly while doing it but I can’t tell you how much everybody else had enjoyed it on set. Every time I came out with one of them, people were giggling and all. It was such a weird set," she said.
Tribhanga arrives on Netflix on January 15. It also stars Mithila Palkar and Kunaal Roy Kapur.
