KAJOL - A CLOISTERED TALENT
Having immense allure like her mother, but not as vivacious, Kajol
with beauty, extraordinaire talent and versatile artistry has been brightening
Indian Cinema with her metier. Born into illustrious Samarth-Mukherjee family, which
has had a long cinematic history, going back four generations, having prominent
feminist role models from the times of Bombay Talkies, if there was such a
thing as ‘acting genes’ Kajol certainly has them in abundance and does justice
to any role she enacts.
In all her movies, Kajol engages and blends into the character
and her forte is spontaneity. She is instinctive and apparently walks literally
into a scene with her natural fluster, without any extra effort or histrionics,
a talent not many actors have, she illuminates naturally on the cue ‘lights, camera,
action’, and promptly sparkles the canvas. An actress who has given innumerable commercial
hits, reigned from mid 90's and consistently giving phenomenal performances till
today, yet she is oblivious in recognizing herself as an accomplished and originative
artist in Indian cinema.
Kajol, an attractive and captivating personality, arises with
simple and relatable portrayals in conventional commercial movies, though such
projects demand quintessential approach to dialogues, comedy, song/dance and
drama.
As we discern, it is
the practice of some contemporary film writers and directors to write correlative scripts
with minor variances, restricting Kajol in her performances and creativity. With
her own cognitive processes, simply not recognizing her unquestionable genius, Kajol
continues to do almost similar roles with few directors/ actors. She consociates
herself with the role she recreates and outshines rest of the characters, even over
shadowing the hero of the film script.
She exhibited her proficient ability in ‘Dushman', in which she
starts as a vulnerable protagonist, changing with circumstance and yet
retaining her vulnerability till the last act of bravado. Another great
performance was as an obsessive character in ‘Gupt’, a negative character where
she fits effectively in the suspense thriller, she introduced the disparate
side of her talent and earned much deserved critical appreciation. Similarly, her
role in ‘Udhar Ki Zindagi’ was critically acknowledged.
The movies she did in
the initial years of her career manifests the classic perfection of a star, as a
strong-willed woman, giving impeccable performances … perpetually immersing, electrifying
and brilliant. She is the first woman to win Filmfare award for the best
performance in a negative portrayal and she has a record of winning five Filmfare awards in the best actress category, a record she shares with her famous
aunt, Nutan. In her highly successful commercial films, Kajol is mostly seen as
a simple, naive girl at the outset and metamorphizing into a confident and
assured persona, a fact that the directors were confident of her mastery in
portraying diverse characters.
An award-winning
actress, dramatizing herself in different acting techniques, not resorting to
exaggeration of the character, an attribute that Kajol possesses, but by dedicating
herself to same set of multi starrer movies, she has not ventured into any iconic
role, though she is no way limited in her artform. Her intuitive approach to
roles so far is devoiding the masses, as they want to see her in avant-garde
cinema, into which she can smoothly transmute. The realism in her commercial
portrayals is soul of the alternate genre of cinema, could easily win her
critical and mass appreciation. Kajol could have been more experimental in her
long career but we presume that her disposition and perhaps her prerogative
prevents her from doing realistic cinema.
Temperamental and frenzied by nature, though always laughing
and effervescent, her comfort zone seems to be fenced. An avid reader and off
late very vocal on public platforms, conveys impression of an unfulfilled
artistic mind. Her vigour and spirit make her popular, getting her a favourable
reception among masses, speaks what she thinks is right, her statements are not
contentious, they are sometimes humorous and light hearted, showing her
forthrightness and honesty. Earlier on, Kajol with her own criterion, emerging
from the conventional mode, did movies which challenged her prowess, with some
women-centric and empowering themes, that set her apart in Indian cinema.
Not ready for experimentation thereafter, Kajol did not opt
for diverse roles in films. In contemporary cinema, audience are accepting strong
portrayal of women centric scripts, a phenomenon not common till few years ago,
a right time for Kajol’s talent to re-blossom, but she has locked her talent, sticking
to her own philosophy and genius. A woman whom we all admire manifestly,
triumphs in her expressions, acting and screen presence and she is truly
satisfied in her identity which is meaningful to her personality.
Kajol exceptionally rises from one performance to another
performance, impromptu, which may be prodigious. The magnetism of her performance
explains her impact in the acting faculty and when the talent of this kind is
exhibited, it exhilarates the public. The clarity of her potential power and active approach is perfect for any type of project
she accomplishes, a true star who has made a great deal of contribution to
Indian film Industry, proud of her work and strength, Kajol continues giving humongous
performances but her best is yet to come and we expect that she goes beyond the
movies she has been doing…to do something different, and we hope to see her
regularly in new roles.
She may be remembered as an award-winning actress but we
would also cherish to have her ‘magnum opus’ for which she is applauded and
identified for life. With the present story writers, giving chance to the
actresses of her merit, there is still lot of time in which she can adeptly
enthrall the audience with meaningful and iconic roles. We realize that she has
so much ability to contribute to Indian Film Industry as she effortlessly summarizes
and submerges in her characterization.
Is Kajol a cloistered artist? …certainly not, Is her art
cloistered? …. Perhaps yes, who can set her virtuosity free? … surely, she herself. Cinema can entertain, espouse social changes,
give life to a story, be it for any purpose it needs the skill of the
performer, and for a gifted performer like Kajol, requires unfettered and
uninhibited access to the totality of her genius.
There is no doubting her endless energy and calibre, it is
time to find a genie and unravel her bottled eclectic artistry.
Anuradha Singh17th March, 2019
a.singhlink@gmail.com
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Well written, Kajol is great
ReplyDeleteThank you, I am a big Kajol fan
ReplyDelete