TV Review: Kajol and Ayan Mukerji on 'Koffee With Karan'
Kajol was her sprightly, blunt self and her quotable quotes made this week's show worth a watch!
I like Kajol. She’s brash, loud and arrogant, but joyfully entertaining and brutally honest, and to an extent a tad self deprecating too. It’s all a bit of a contradiction really, a mixed bag, but whatever the case, I’ve always thought she’s a terrific actress who never really took chances – something even she admitted on this week’s Koffee With Karan - her fourth appearance on the show albeit not with Shah Rukh Khan, but with younger cousin and whizz director Ayan Mukerji, the man (or boy rather!) behind Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
Karan probed Kajol, about her new found fashionista status, which is quite ironic really, given that she looked quite frumpy in that beige gown she wore on the show.
There’s a strange maturity about Kajol now. Parts of her are still the same, but she’s mellowed with age. I liked her candour on her relationship with husband Ajay Devgn, and how she acknowledged that as people they are poles apart and yet somehow make their marriage work, which is a bit of a challenge in an industry where most marriages are crumbling.
For a change, Karan didn’t play coy. He asked her up front about sister Tanisha’s tumultuous appearance on the last season of Bigg Boss, and the latter's alleged romance with her housemate in the same, Armaan Kohli, which Kajol gave no significance to. It’s a well known fact that both the Devgns and Tanuja are not too keen on Armaan, so it will be interesting to see how the Tanisha-Armaan romance unfolds going forward.
Ayan, a Karan Johar protege and a self confessed Ranbir Kapoor fanatic (a lot of the show was about him, until Kajol very rightly put her foot down and reminded Karan that it was meant to be about them! I'm glad someone finally pointed that out. As much as I rate Ranbir as an actor, I'm really bored of Koffee With Karan just being about him!).
There were a few gems on the show, like when Karan and Ayan both pointed out that they wanted to be stars and Kajol shot them down saying their chances were really slim. And the segment where Kajol bluntly admitted that alternative or art house cinema was not her bag and how she could never pull off a 'gaon ki chhori' given that she just looks elite and rich. To which Karan retorted that she's looked poor at least off screen, and that she needn't get ahead of herself – actual LOL at that point!
Ayan is a little star struck (a fact he himself admitted), but I liked his humility. He was respectful, but very 'with it' and witty and had a few ace comments up his sleeve, especially during the Rapid Fire which he went on to win. Upon being asked what a biographical film featuring Ranbir in the lead would be called, Ayan said 'The Artist'; Deepika – 'The Girl With The Broken Heart' (he forgot to add, the broken heart that probably shot her career to the stratosphere); and for Katrina – 'The Girl Who Tried'. Oh and I did like his little dig on 'the strangest rumour he'd heard recently' – that Katrina was in Dhoom 3 (Katrina had a bit part in the blockbuster) – a remark that got Kajol cackling to the high heavens. Harsh, but quick witted nonetheless. And oh, the highlight of the show for me was his comment that hinted that there was a rumour doing the rounds that implied Karan had requested 'favours' in return for getting Ayan on board to direct a film for Dharma! It was a juicy comment – quick and spunky – and something that got poor Karan red faced and vehemently defensive – he was anything but a predatory producer apparently!
Kajol, in comparison, was a little politically correct, picking Ajay as the top actor and the guy she'd like to go on a date with (yawn), but her quips on how she couldn't really recommend a surgeon to any of the current crop of actresses (seeing as they already had their own!), and that she'd ask Rani-Aditya when their marriage was on the cards were pretty on the ball. The biggest surprise for me least was, when she rated Ranbir over Aamir-SRK when it came to performing. Really? Ranbir may be a natural, but he has years to go before he can compare to the Khan duo. The fact that she picked Kareena as the top actress though, wasn't really a surprise. The two actresses have always had a mutual admiration society since their Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham days.
Kajol went on to win the subsequent Koffee Quiz (it was a close call, but Kajol is well read, you have to give her that, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight). But that question about the Kal Ho Naa Ho mantra ('6 Din Ladki In') had me hollering at my screen! Surely everybody knew that one?! Or is it just me given my obsession for the SRK-Saif-Preity starrer?
I thoroughly enjoyed this week's episode. Karan was definitely at ease with the two, and I loved his comment about Kajol being a 'pressure cooker', and the latter's retort on how Dharma of all production houses were hardly regarded as being trendsetters when it came to 'intellectualising' cinema. Atta girl. If there was anyone that could get away with that comment it was you. I wish some of the show's other guests would take a leaf out of Kajol's book and be as blunt and as fiery as she is. If anything, it makes for good viewing, and even if she is a little arrogant, it makes you respect the actress even more. What I mean by that is, no matter what anybody says Kajol always made her own rules – which is why I suspect she got as far as she did in the industry. She's a little up herself (and she's fully aware of it), she's intelligent and still has a devout fan base all these years on, and to top it all off, she still makes the most out there 'I don't give a damn' comments. It's for a glimpse of that firebrand attitude and her spunky comments, and to a lesser extent, Ayan's wit, that this week's show was worth catching on the idiot box!
Did you catch this week's show? And what did you think of it? Do let us know below!
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