Is Kajol overrated? - Page 6

Originally posted by: myviewprem

Kajol belongs to shobhana samarth family (grand mom) and her grand dad owned studios in 1930s

Her uncle include joy mukherjee and nutan

Many producers and actors are from their family

If you think she just landed in movies as heroine without back up and support or got all those films based on her talent(non existamt looks, acting or dancing) while likes of madhuri dixit, juhi chawla struggled 5 to 7 years to get a decent heroine role you have no idea about bollywood

Imagine some outsider looking as like kajol and no dance ability no much acting will they get a side actress role in bollywood forget heroine opp SRK, amir etc

Kajol got the roles because of her family connections not on her ability or dancing or looks

Same with rani mukherjee or karishma or many others in 90s

They all groomed themselves later after 5 to 7 years in industry and learnt a bit of craft some more some less

An outsider would not get so many years to groom themselves into heroine role or learn a bit of acting

For ex vidya balan from first movie had to do good acting or depika padukone from first movie had to look like a princess with beauty and dance like a dream or amrita rao had to know acting from first movie only they were not given 5 to 7 years to improve

That's true but Kajol's family, to much knowledge, didn't have much influence by the 90s. I saw the Simi Garewal interview with Rani where Simi talks about how the Mukherjee family is the most prestigious in Bollywood and was considered the most talented in the industry. Rani explained that all this was true but only many generations ago and by the time she was born, she had already missed the family's prime. Their family didn't have that level of prestige by then so she never saw those days Simi spoke of when the Mukherjees were at the top. And Rani was very poor and the family's sole breadwinner which is why she was pushed into acting because she wasn't interested otherwise.

A similar story with Karishma since Randhir Kapoor was an alcoholic and separated from Babita. Karishma was pushed into films because the family needed a breadwinner. On top of that, there was much backlash by male members of their family since they didn't believe Kapoor women should act onscreen. Karishma in particular was considered an ugly duckling in the industry when she debuted and for many years until her makeover in Raja Hindustani. Also, her dancing was considered a bit out there for the time so she was considered loose by Indian standards.

With Kajol, she was not considered a conventional beauty because of how dusky she was. There was a lot of media attention to her lack of fairness and how Bollywood hadn't had a dark heroine like her in so long, but it was this that helped her stand apart once she proved she could act. I don't think she's ugly because she has great features, just needed some grooming.

You're comparing Deepika and Vidya who both debuted in the late 2000s to 90s heroines when 90s heroines all lacked grooming from the beginning. That had nothing to do with these actresses having film family backgrounds and being allowed to look unattractive on screen and still be given chances but more just how the industry worked back then. Grooming didn't really become a thing until the 2000s. Look at Sridevi and Rekha. Sridevi came from the South where nobody thought of her appearance but in Bollywood, she was considered fat and taunted by the media and audience. Remember they called her thunder thighs. Rekha had to get a complete makeover transformation because she was considered ugly in Bollywood for many years. She looks unrecognizable if you compare her look in the 80s to how she debuted. This was simply how the times worked for all heroines back then. Deepika and Vidya cannot be compared because their era is different and has nothing to do with film or lack of film background.

Also you say that no outsider would get a launch like Kajol, well her debut film was Bekhudi. She worked with SRK when he was still an outsider and not super popular. Baazigar was I think her second film and that was what became a blockbuster and launched her and SRK's careers. She didn't work with Aamir until Ishq and Fanaa many years later. So it's not like Kajol was launched and working with established stars from day one. She had to prove it too.

She is old, certainly not overrated. Actresses barely get roles when they are old.

Originally posted by: DivineAngel

She is old, certainly not overrated. Actresses barely get roles when they are old.

Yes, Kajol also said that she and her contemporaries get no film roles anymore which is why they have to work exclusively in OTT now. They simply don't write film roles for their age group.

Well, she's still better than the current bunch. But, in a way, yeah, I'd say so. Even her famed performance in Gupt had her simply looking anxious and mouthing "Sahil, Sahil, Sahil" mainly.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

Urmila limited? Do you really think that? Have you seen her movies especially her 2000s ones?

She was talented and very good at what she is capable of, thats intense drama. Not so sure about playful roles.

Originally posted by: bollymolly

She was talented and very good at what she is capable of, thats intense drama. Not so sure about playful roles.

I would recommend Daud with Sanjay Dutt. It was a remake of Ram Gopal Varma's previous film in Telugu that starred Sridevi. Urmila and Sanjay both play crooks and her character in particular is quite mischievous and up to a lot of antics.

She's pretty playful in Rangeela as Mili when she's teasing and being teased by Aamir's character. Khoobsurat (also with Sanjay) has her playful as well.

And if you've seen Indian (Hindustani in the Hindi version which is playing on Tubi) which won a bunch of awards and starred Manisha and Urmila, Urmila is playing a rich spoiled brat trying to wreck Manisha's romance with Kamal Haasan. Very juvenile character.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

Shoved by who though? She didn't have some benefactor pushing her in every film unless you mean KJo. She was much more popular and influential than KJo in the 90s when he was a nobody. He asked her and SRK on the set of DDLJ if they would star in his directorial film. They both agreed out of friendship. Mani Ratnam wanted Kajol for Dil Se and it was Kajol's dream to work with him but she said no because she had already committed to KJo and would not break a promise, even though KJo told her to go ahead and do Dil Se.

KKHH made KJo famous and established him. After that, Kajol only did his K3G and My Name is Khan. Every other film she did she got without him since she was always bigger than him during her prime era when she was acting regularly. Mani Ratnam wouldn't have picked her for Dil Se if she was a nobody.

Even in the 90s, her non-SRK films after DDLJ were mostly successful.

Yeh Dillagi = hit (before DDLJ in fact)

Gupt = hit

Ishq = super hit

Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya = super hit

Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha = super hit

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain = super hit

Fanaa = super hit

She was also offered Gadar but turned it down so it's not even that she was only offered movies with SRK.

You should have a look at the movies u listed. 90% with khans and multi starrers.

KJo was new but not his production company. They were at helm even without Karan Johar who is another nepo kid and the reason likes of Kajol n Alia gets shoved in movies.

Also it’s not only Tanuja, Kajol’s father was also a known name as movie producer in Bollywood.

Kajol was alright, but would be easily overshadowed by all the actresses and lookers of her time.

Originally posted by: monu_tan

You should have a look at the movies u listed. 90% with khans and multi starrers.

KJo was new but not his production company. They were at helm even without Karan Johar who is another nepo kid and the reason likes of Kajol n Alia gets shoved in movies.

Also it’s not only Tanuja, Kajol’s father was also a known name as movie producer in Bollywood.

Kajol was alright, but would be easily overshadowed by all the actresses and lookers of her time.

Out of that list, only Ishq was a multi-starrer and it, Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, and Fanaa were the only ones with Khans. But even with Salman in Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya being a hit, this is forgetting that he had flop films. Khamoshi, Auzaar, Jaanam Samjha Karo, Chal Mere Bhai, Hello Brother, etc. all flopped. For Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya to work, it couldn't have just been Salman's starpower otherwise all his films would have been hits. It took the Kajol part of the equation for the film to work as well.

Fanaa came out when Aamir's career was lagging and he wasn't considered quite as bankable a box office star. Kajol had more starpower than him at that point and she also ran away with the best reviews. This is most evident when you look at the Filmfare 2007 cover of the top actors in the industry, and despite Kajol not having made a movie for 5 years between K3G and Fanaa, Kajol is included near the top.

Her equation with Ajay was always popular so their films usually did well in the 90s. Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain was a female-oriented movie. Anil Kapoor is just there to support the female lead and this was one of Kajol's biggest hits which showed that she could carry a movie herself, much like Sridevi with Laadla or Madhuri with Raja. Gupt featured Manisha, who was never a big box office star and most of her films flopped (none of the movies she did with the Khans were ever successful) and fairly new Bobby Deol. Bobby had established himself as a star with Barsaat and later Soldier, but at this point Kajol was still the bigger star than him and there's a reason why people remember the movie for her.

Dharma was not considered a major production company in the 90s. It was really KJo who made it popular in the 2000s with his SRK/Kajol directorial features and why we consider Dharma to be such an important production company now like YRF. Now YRF and Dharma are both said under the same breath but that definitely wasn't the case in the 90s. Under Yash Johar, Kajol was only in a cameo in Duplicate. And once more, Kajol got KKHH and KJo's other movies because they were friends and he asked her and SRK to do his directorial while filming DDLJ and both promised that if he ever made a movie, they'd do it. The fact that Kajol gave up Mani Ratnam's Dil Se for KJo, even when everyone told her to take Dil Se instead, shows how KJo was still a complete unknown and untested in the industry whereas Mani Ratnam, who is not conventional Bollywood, was interested in Kajol because of her starpower and popularity with audiences.

While I agree with you that as someone from a film family, she had connections that would help her more than an outsider at that point. But also to become as popular as she did, she had to have some lasting appeal and her films wouldn't be as successful if audiences felt she was forced on them. Even Bobby Deol fizzled out by the 2000s. Many starkids had way stronger film connections and superstars for parents but still couldn't make it, like Abhishek Bachchan, Tusshar Kapoor, Uday Chopra, and Esha Deol. Janhvi Kapoor has been trying for years now, with KJo's backing, but still hasn't resonated. I don't think anyone could state Kajol should be ranked with these actors just because they're star kids and that their successes to her success should be comparable.