The Temperamental Temptress...

ONE thing that always puzzled me about Kajol has been her eyes. Are they green or are they blue. But this time, I was sure, they are brown, because I caught up with her when she was donning her glasses and burying herself in a Mills and Boon.

The temperamental actress is a journalist's nightmare for one does not know in what mood she would be. Sometimes the belle is sweet and a wrong first question can very well upset her rhythm.

Initially she would let go a list of SDAs (Standard Defensive Answers that an actress has) but now with Dushman approaching and her good pal and producer Pooja Bhatt having put in a word for me, Kajol starts talking. "Why did you write the last time that I am arrogant? Why can't you tell me that first before printing it," she queries.

So the interview has begun, but from the other side. Normally Kajol does not bother about how scribes describe her. But probably I am one of the privileged ones to get on the wrong side.

Anyway 1997 was mixed for her with Gupt and Ishq doing well and an impressive performance in Sapnay which flopped as did Hamesha. However, the award for Gupt did lift her spirits.

In 1998, Kajol is all set to blaze. With Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya making brisk business, she is on fire. She is finally doing what most stars love to a double role! In Pooja Bhatt's Dushman, Kajol is playing the role of two sisters who are temperamentally as removed from each other as can be. "I am very excited about Dushman. I wasn't too much in for playing a double role, but the idea was very different that I have two get ups. In one of the roles, I have short hair and the other I am my usual."

However Kajol was not game for a wig at all in the film. "I hate the time that one tends to waste to get ready. I'd rather read a book in the time or even give a few more shots, yaar." "Moreover does the NSD, FTII or any other school of acting in the world tells us that wigs are a part of acting? I don't like to do anything that looks unreal. I don't want anyone to say that they found me distant or far from life in any scene or song. I want to look approachable and real. Show me one person in real life who wears those wigs and clothes, which people in Hindi films are asked to wear?"

Yet, Kajol is very pepped up about Dushman. "It is not that it is a watershed in my life. Or that it is a very important film, because I treat all my films as important. I sign a film only if I want to do it. I do not sign a film for money. Pooja and Tanuja (Chandra) are all charged up about the film. Why shouldn't they. It has been very well made and I am proud to be a part of it."

Shooting in South Africa must have been a pleasant experience, I ask. "Yeah, it was great. It was a different locale and I enjoyed myself. Bas, let us talk something else. I do not like to discuss my role in detail."

Quite impulsive, we understand. "Impulsive I am not. I'm instinctive.

Most of my decisions are instinctive and split second. I do not regret anything that I do or that I have said. Everything I do or say belongs to me and I never regret what is mine. I want to live life to the fullest. So I do what I feel and tell people what I feel."

People tend to accept this behaviour as arrogant. "So what? I will do what I want. Everyone should do what he or she feels like. Why should we bow down before the society and people and do what they feel is right. It's our life and we must enjoy it to the fullest."

Point taken. But that does mean that she has no regard for others. "No, please don't mistake me. Give respect and take respect. Respect my sentiments and I will respect yours. See, Now I am just wearing glasses and sitting down. No one recognises me on flights and I travel this way very easily. If I am all decked up won't it mean a waste of time? I get ready in minutes much ahead of the other actresses."

So is she not bothered about the fact that the other actresses would look much better after their make up. "Let them. I am not here to compete with the other heroines. I am not in the rat race. I do not want to be number one. I am here just for fun. The day I feel, I have had enough, I will quit get married an have a lot of kids."

So what about the news recently that she is getting married next month.

"Yikes! I am not one of those who is ashamed of getting married. But, I cannot get married just because the media writes about it. Why should I keep good news a secret?"

Kajol has been of such a temperamental nature right from her first film Bekhudi which flopped leaving her in a state of bekhudi. Then followed films like Udhar Ki Zindagi where she dished out a terrific performance but that film too failed. However Kajol likes the film a lot. "That has been my best film till date. I have never given a better performance in any other film till date."

After that Baazigar, Karan Arjun and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge opposite Shah Rukh Khan put her on a pedestal from where she can be considered as a successful actress.

"There have also been flops like Taaqat and Bambai Ka Babu. I signed those films because, I thought that the roles were good when the scripts were narrated to me. But the films flopped. So what, I had fun."

Her pairing with Ajay Devgun has not been successful as Hulchul and Goondaraaj flopped. "But Ishq did well, didn't it. I have Pyar To Hona Hi Tha coming up. If it does well, good. If it doesn't, I'll accept it. My pairings with other actors have also resulted in flops like with Saif. Only Shah Rukh and I have a great track record."

Ask Kajol about what's happening with Ajay and she frowns. "Why don't you ask him. I am not his PRO. He will tell you. And don't ask me such silly questions again," she signs off.

Now among her forthcoming there is Aditya Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Chopra's next directorial venture with Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar's Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with Shah Rukh Khan, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha with Ajay Devgun and an exciting role in a K. Balachander's film with Anil Kapoor.

Even if she lost Mani Rathnam's Dil Se because of date hassles, Kajol has mega aces tucked up under her sleeves, of course to keep her going up, up and up. And if these films, or at least a couple of them happen to do well, well then she can jolly well be queen in '98.

- By N Anandhi