Delhi : Bollywood star Kajol is all set to captivate audiences with her upcoming film "Maa". In an exclusive interview with IANS, Kajol shared her experience of playing a mother in the film, revealing that it was a unique challenge for her. Unlike her previous roles, playing a mother in "Maa" took a deeper emotional toll on her. Kajol confessed that she's not a fan of horror movies, which made her unprepared for the emotional demands of the genre. However, she expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work on "Maa". When asked about her approach to the film's intense themes, Kajol discussed how she immersed herself in the character's emotional journey.
00:00Firstly, I want to thank you with all my heart.
00:03Amidst all the noise of horror comedies and people touching the peripheries of horror,
00:09you've brought something which people would really want to see, which is horror.
00:13And I think Ma as a trailer, it's fantastic.
00:17And of course, the textbook of acting is there.
00:20The movie is going to do super well.
00:22Thank you. Thank you so much.
00:23So, you know, when we talk about Ma, that's the first word as a child,
00:27which children learn.
00:28And then, of course, the whole overlay text with the whole power sign.
00:32If I had to ask you, what is Ma for you?
00:35What is the word?
00:35How would you define it?
00:36What is it for you?
00:40I think you put it really well.
00:41It's the first word that most children learn to say, to feel and to think before anything else.
00:49You know, the first person that the child turns towards is his mother.
00:53So, it starts from there and it just goes more and more and deeper.
00:59And for me, Ma means Ma also.
01:03And for me, it means my mother as well.
01:05And for me, both are the same.
01:06And it's actually, it was a working title for the film.
01:15But by the time we finished the film, we realized that the word itself had so many layers to it
01:22that it just could not have more aptly defined our film than just that one word.
01:29True.
01:29Also, you've played like intense, layered ma's before.
01:33And, of course, like the most supportive mother as well.
01:38And intense, of course.
01:39But, you know, Ambika is more layered.
01:41She is, you know, a mother confronting death, loss and, you know, possibly the unknown.
01:48So, did this role particularly, you know, emotionally take more from you than the other roles you've played before?
01:58I think it took a lot from me because of the fact that it's a horror film.
02:04And it needs, I didn't realize that when I would be doing a horror film, there would be such a pitch to the entire film
02:12because I'm not a horror watcher.
02:14So, I didn't realize that there was this certain pitch to every horror film that's there.
02:19There's an emotional pitch.
02:21And especially when it's like such a tight, you know, this, that, there's so much happening
02:25that as an actor, you always have to be at a, like at a, almost like, you know, like a really high alert level.
02:34That's true.
02:34And yes, it was very, very draining as an actor also, very emotionally draining as an actor
02:40to constantly keep that pitch 24-7 all the time in every shot.
02:45Also, when we talk about horrors, you know, I think Shaitan was fab and then we have Ma.
02:51But when we, why is Bollywood so scared or like the industry so scared to touch horror as a particular subject?
02:58You know, we've not seen a lot of Hollywood, sorry, horror films in Hindi cinema.
03:02Last we saw were the Bats or like the 1920s or the Ramsey brothers.
03:06But then this is actual, proper for like horror fans.
03:10Absolutely.
03:11And that's the reason that we wanted to try something, something new like this.
03:16Also, because I think horror takes a lot of, um, A for one VFX.
03:21Yeah.
03:21There is a, you need like a really big budget for VFX.
03:24You need, I, I, this is a horror, but there's a lot of emotion involved in it.
03:30There's a lot of emotion involved in it.
03:32And that's why I even agreed to do the film.
03:34I don't think that, um, you know, I would have maybe felt the same way for the film if
03:39it didn't have so much of emotion and so much of base emotion attached to it.
03:43So it's not just a horror film.
03:45It, it is a mythological horror film.
03:47I would not have agreed to do this film if it did not have such an emotional base to it.
03:51It's not just a horror film.
03:53And, um, I, I think as an industry, we have to, we are all working towards better scripts.
03:58We're all working towards tighter scripts, uh, you know, stronger scripts.
04:03We all want to write better scripts and writing takes time.
04:06So I don't think we wanted to, I don't think it's not that anybody wanted to touch it so
04:11much as we just felt that we had to wait for the right script to come.
04:16One thing what caught my eye was the whole Kali dance that you did and the Kali ma puja
04:20that was happening.
04:21Right.
04:21That's not seen much.
04:23We've seen, obviously we've seen the dhunuchis and everything.
04:25Right.
04:26And the Kali puja is very deeply spiritual.
04:29It's visceral.
04:30Are we doing enough to showcase that amazing feminine power on screen?
04:35I hope so.
04:36I hope so.
04:38Uh, when you watch the film, you'll, you can tell me what you felt at that particular point.
04:42But, uh, yeah, I think when, when you were shooting the song also, it was such a visceral song
04:47that, um, I think everybody on set felt it.
04:51Everybody, whoever was dancing on set felt it.
04:54Everybody who was around, you know, like, uh, you go into this little days when you're
05:01listening to that song.
05:02It has this, like, hypnotic effect to it.
05:04So, yeah, supremely grateful that I got that chance.
05:08Um, and I think one of the most amazing things in the film, which I will say, I think one of the fabulous shots is of when, um, I removed the cloth from the statue of, uh, Kalima.
05:20I think she was just, she was so beautiful.
05:23I remember standing on set and, you know, somebody took off the cloth for a shot because she was covered up for the first four days.
05:30I didn't see what the, I couldn't see what the statue looked like.
05:33So, eventually when I saw it, I literally had that, you know, like little awestruck feel to it.
05:41And I'm, I'm so grateful that, you know, every morning I would come on set and I was like, I was so grateful that I was here in front of Ma and I was working in front of her.
05:50It was such a unique experience.
05:53Also, you know, I'm, I'm a Bengali and I've been subjected to this all the time that, you know, and it's by joke, like friends joke all the time that, oh, Bengali, black magic toh aata hi ho ga, right?
06:03And, uh, putle banati you and things like that.
06:05And Bengali, Bengali people often tend to get stereotyped like that.
06:08What do you have to say about that?
06:09How do you feel about that?
06:10Have you been subject to something like that as bizarre as that?
06:13Um, well, I have been subjected to the Bengali madness.
06:16So, yeah, there is that part of it, but I, I think that's fun, right?
06:26I think most of the times it's just fun to stereotype people and to really just, it's just for fun that we really talk about it.
06:33So I don't know whether I take it that seriously.
06:35Also, you know, um, there was a time of the suffering mothers and the stoic mothers and then there's like the strong mothers who've come like you on screen.
06:43So how has the Bollywood, the Maas of Bollywood evolved in your eyes?
06:47The Maas of Bollywood, I think, have evolved along with society.
06:51I think it's the way we see mothers today.
06:54They were always strong for us.
06:55We always had things like Mother India going around, et cetera.
06:58We had Mother India long before, uh, you know, we could even think of a film like Maa.
07:03So, uh, at that point of time as well.
07:05But I think, um, I think the idea of a fallible mother is finally making its way, uh, out.
07:14Yes, she is superwoman also.
07:16And at the same time, she's soft and she's feminine also.
07:20And, uh, you know, she can embrace that feminine side of hers as well.
07:25So, but at, um, are today's on-screen mothers allowed to be like a little selfish, fierce, flawed?
07:32Are they allowed?
07:33I think so.
07:35I think so.
07:36I think it's also how women view women.
07:39Do we forgive each other for being flawed?
07:41Do we forgive ourselves for being a little flawed?
07:44Or if not flawed, I don't know what flawed means really.
07:47What does it mean that, uh, you went to work today.
07:49Are you flawed because of that?
07:51Or, uh, you know, you didn't attend your child's school play because you were working.
07:56Does that make you flawed?
07:57So that's a question that we as women have to ask ourselves that, um, you know,
08:02how do we view ourselves?
08:04And I think as we change, as we change our viewpoint on ourselves, so will society.
08:11Also, like I said, you are the textbook of acting.
08:13You've given such amazing films.
08:15And, you know, uh, from thrillers to romantic comedies, everything, you've done it all.
08:19And we have, like, I think I remember all your films by dialogues, by songs, everything.
08:25But that kind of recall value, I think people don't have that anymore.
08:28And why is that?
08:29Like, so many films are coming in, but yet, like, the kind of films we did back then,
08:33we are still not, like, having, we don't have those films etched in our mind right now.
08:37Why?
08:37Um, I think there are a few films like that.
08:41There are a few films like that.
08:43I wouldn't say there aren't any at all.
08:45But I think that was the time also when, like, uh, when everybody went to the cinemas to see
08:50who they had to see.
08:51I mean, if you wanted to see a Shah Rukh Khan, you went to the theater to see him.
08:55If you wanted to see an Ajay Devgan, you went to the theater to see him.
08:57There was no other way to see him.
08:59There was no social media.
09:01There was no, um, uh, you know, OTT.
09:04There was nothing.
09:05So if you had to see them, it had to be in a cinema house.
09:09And when you have only one way of learning something, then that becomes the strongest
09:15learning that you have.
09:16When there are, like, 15 different ways you're shown something, maybe it won't sit as well,
09:20or maybe you won't remember it as well.
09:22All right.
09:22Also, I think you're the Gen Z mom.
09:24You're doing it all.
09:26You're amazing on social media as well.
09:28But, you know, when so much of, um, data is already in, you're working, you're handling
09:32home, you're doing so many things, other things.
09:34But how do you handle, like, Gen Z stuff?
09:37Like?
09:38Like, um, social media or like, do you know Gen Z lingo?
09:42Do you understand Gen Z lingo?
09:44I don't even try to understand Gen Z lingo.
09:47I'm satisfied with just speaking good English for that matter.
09:50Good Hindi, good English, good Marathi.
09:52I'm satisfied with that.
09:54But does it confuse you?
09:55Because you're like, you're on the millennial side of us.
09:58And then there's...
09:59I ask for help.
10:00I genuinely ask for help.
10:02If I need it.
10:02If I don't understand it, then I'll give it to you.
10:04I don't understand it.
10:05I don't understand it.
10:05I don't understand it in normal language.
10:06I don't understand it.
10:08I'm almost done with my interview.
10:09Is there anything else you'd like to, like, say about this film?
10:14I would just like to say that the film is coming out on the 27th of June.
10:18And we have worked very, very hard on the film.
10:22All of us have worked very, very hard on the film.
10:24And I think that if you're scared, then you'll be scared of the cinema.
10:32So please come and be scared with us.
10:35I hope there's more to the horror world of Ma.
