A couple weeks ago I waxed poetic about Amitabh Bachchan, king of the seventies, and now for the next few weeks, I’m going to wax poetic about the queens of the nineties, of which there are several. I’ve chosen the nineties, because we’re nineties kids—we remember when Nickelodeon was cool; we remember the original Bop It! I’m going to kick off the list with my favorite queen (that because it’s my column and I can do what I want): Kajol.
The stunning young actress went only by her first name, which was a Bollywood fashion continued from early Bollywood days and began her career in 1992 with the film Bekhudi. She was lively, fresh-faced and beautiful—the latter, many disagree, either in spite or because of the unibrow she refused to get rid of or even to make less obvious. Personally, I say she’s beautiful in part because of it and in part because of the rest of her exquisite face as well as her vivacity.
Her first big film came the next year, wherein she played the girlfriend of a revenge-driven serial killer, who she was also hunting down for having killed her sister. The film paired her with my other favorite, Shahrukh Khan, and the two became an instant hit with Indian audiences. As least, they should’ve. Their chemistry was off the charts, rivaled only by their ability to make continually fresh and fantastic facial expressions at each other through an entire 3-4 hour film.
The two made a total of four films together in that decade (three of which are unmissable; one even being the famed DDLJ which has remained in theaters since its release in ’95). Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1997), the last film that they starred opposite each other in during the nineties, also became a classic. It’s a beautiful, beautiful film and our library has it, so you should get on watching it just as soon as you’re done reading. They’ve also continued to make movies together in the 2000s, including Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), which is nearly Kuch Kuch redux, and My Name is Khan (2010).
Kajol won three Filmfares in the nineties and was nominated for four more on top of that. Her career since our collective favorite decade has been marked by more successes and incredible performances, all as full of the same enthusiasm and energy which marked Kajol’s earliest films.