As Dhanush and Soundarya Rajnikanth bring their multi-lingual film, the actress said language is no barrier for a good story. By Saurav Kar
After the commercial debacle of Dilwale, despite the dream pairing with SRK, Kajol decided to leave a mark with a firebrand performance. So her fans were quite taken aback when she signed for the Tamil film Velaiilla Pattadhari 2. Although it is helmed by big names like director Soundarya Rajnikanth and superstar Dhanush, people wondered why she didn’t consider a Hindi film.
But Kajol says the territory isn’t new to her as she has worked in a Tamil film 20 years ago (Remember Sapnay with Arvind Swami and Prabhudeva). Besides, in this digital age and cross-flow of ideas and translations, language is hardly a barrier. She shares,“I think, in general, cinema has changed. We may categorise ourselves as Bollywood or Tollywood, but those barriers have changed in today’s time at the international level. We have Chinese and other language films that are available to us but back then we weren’t accessible to any of them. We have Bahubali which goes abroad and does business. In the end, it is about fulfilling a demand for varied stories.”
She hardly felt the pressure of speaking a different language while shooting. “For many years, I wondered if I could do a film in another language and do justice to my character as an actor as I did in Hindi. That’s why I chose Tamil. I seem to have done a decent job but I’ll know afterwards as I’ll need public opinion before I judge that,” she says.
Still, she did not agree readily to the proposal but both Dhanush and Soundarya were adamant about taking her in. Then she liked the script and was comforted somewhat by the fact that half the dialogues were in English.
The character of Kajol in the movie, Vasundhra, is a bold and self-made woman. “We, at some point of time, want to know if our identity is not linked to labels and role-playing. But all we want is our identity to be known to us if not to anybody else and my character in the movie is on this mission. She knows that she doesn’t require a label to tell her who she is and what she can accomplish. What categorises her is very beautifully described by a quote I read somewhere, ‘Throw me to the wolves and I’ll return leading the pack’”, she shares.
Talking about the changing scenario of cinema and women-oriented films, Kajol says, “I think the audience has come out to appreciate films as a whole. Rather than judging a film on gender-oriented stories, viewers prefer to go by a good storyline. Therefore, it’s a wonderful time for actors to be in the film industry because you don’t have to be conventional anymore. Success is no more based on a certain stereotyped idea. I think we are going to have some really fabulous movies in the future.”
The actor plans to come up with her own production house probably this September but has no plans for acting in a movie this year. “I don’t do many things at a time, so I’ll focus on this for a bit. I need to have a
balance in my life because I can’t do too much of anything and that includes work too,” says the doe-eyed actor.
Sharing the screen with Kajol is Dhanush, who plays the antagonist. He plays Raghuvaran, an unemployed stubborn guy who has to deal with an arrogant and independent entrepreneur Vasundhara, who relies on nobody but herself to take every decision. The talented actor says, “Kajol has a great vision and talent. I had a lot of faith in her. She has given the VIP franchise a new colour. I grew up watching her films and it was fascinating to do a movie with her.”
After Raanjhanaa, the target audience of Dhanush has spread across the north too. “The movie helped me get a wider exposure,” he adds.
The movie which was set to release on 28th July has been postponed. Soundarya Rajnikanth explains the reason, “We had some inevitable reasons due to which we had to postpone the releasing to August. We wanted to make sure that the movie is released in all the languages on the same day. We have finished the formalities for the Tamil movie but the documentation is still pending for the other languages. We will make sure the movie is released as soon as possible.”
Photo: MD Meharban