She is the Maa who will do anything to protect her child. Even fight demons.
The film, which opened on the last Friday of June, marks the actress’ first foray into horror, a genre her husband Ajay Devgn has mastered in films as varied as Bhoot, Golmaal Again and Shaitaan. Without any starry or conventional leading man, the film has fared averagely at the box-office. But then Kajol, despite an array of blockbusters and hits in her career, has sparkled even more as a versatile actress, as proved by her last few Kajol-centric films like Salaam Venky, Tribhanga, Helicopter Eela or the web series, The Trial.
Meeting her is like encountering a blizzard of energy at any time. And this time, it is no different! She guffaws when I tell her that she looks just 35, which is actually the time she has spent in cinema as her maiden venture, Bekhudi (1992), was launched that many years ago in 1990!
She mock-reprimands and replies, “You should say I don’t even look 35!” And adds that the secret lies in remaining true to self and always doing what will make one happy, and not please others. “When I grow old, I alone must take credit for all my good decisions and I alone must admit responsibility for my mistakes,” she says seriously and immediately preens, “And I am rather proud of myself!”
She says that Maa was never intended to be a horror drama! A favorite childhood tale about Goddess Kali Maa and the demon, Raktbeej, had hooked her then. So when this concept was given to her, she wanted to make a tight thriller. But as the script began to shape up, everyone felt that a horror tag was needed to justify the characters and the climax and lend bigness to the world they wanted to show.
“Horror’ dramas, she maintains, have a specific pitch, and she had to follow all that, and also it was a challenge to shoot solo, against a green screen for the VFX to be added later. “Normally in any scene you react to someone, or say dialogues with the cast. Then you let it play out. This time, it was a different form of acting, there was also a car chase, and cable work, so it was all physically demanding and tiring. In fact, I was shooting with red mud so much that after the shooting was over and there was Holi immediately, I said that I am not playing any more now with colors!”
About the buzz that husband Ajay (the co-producer of both Maa and Shaitaan) is now looking at a ‘Devil’s Universe’ just like friend Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe, Dinesh Vijan’s Horror Universe and YRF’s Spy Universe, she grins and says, “I hope so!” She agrees that Maa was the perfect title for this drama, though it had originally been kept only as a working title. “The word has many layers and emotions,” she puts it succinctly.
Ajay has produced several films starring her with him (Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, U Me Aur Hum, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior) and her alone (Helicopter Eela, Tribhanga) but directed her only in U Me Aur Hum. Did he direct her here in any way as he is a techno geek since 1998’s Pyaar To…? Kajol replies that, as Maa has lot of visual effects, Ajay’s entire VFX team (NY VFXWala) was there along with him to guide her. “I have always said that he is one of our smartest directors and I would definitely love to be directed by him again!” she declares triumphantly.
Does she think, like so many other senior actresses, that she is now in the best phase of her life? Thoughtfully, she says, “I don’t know which was most interesting, but I would like to believe that I am in the best place and phase, though at all times, I have always believed that!” She smiles and adds, “I do not look behind but ahead, and right now, I am happy and proud to be here. People told me that I would have a short career after I got married. Then the same thing happened when I became pregnant! But here I am!”
(Used under special arrangement with NIT)
