Kajol had initially refused to act in Revathy’s Salaam Venky as the actress was not comfortable doing a film in which something happens to her children.

“I was refusing this film for three days. I didn’t want to do a film in which something happens to my children. I cannot handle it and I do not want to handle it. But then she (Revathy) told me to think about it. And eventually, I agreed to do the film,” said the 48-year-old actress, a mother of two.

The trailer of Salaam Venky was launched in Mumbai on November 14. In the film, Kajol plays a mother whose son’s health is rapidly deteriorating.

Helmed by Revathy, Salaam Venky stars Kajol and Vishal Jethwa as the mother-son duo. The film also features Rahul Bose, Rajeev Khandelwal, Prakash Raj and Aamir Khan.

When asked how she managed to bring Kajol onboard for the film, Revathy said, “When you are a mother or daughter, the emotions that come on screen are different because you have learned so much. And you feel for the part of your body (your child) that is living outside. It’s impossible not to feel what that person is feeling. And I needed somebody like that. And that’s when Kajol came to my mind.”

Describing how other actors were cast, Revathy said that Rahul Bose and Rajeev Khandelwal were generous enough to be a part of this film. The director knew that Vishal Jethwa was the right fit to play Venky because of the way he reacted to writer Sameer Arora’s narration. “Vishal has a fabulous connection with his real mother and I needed that in the character,” added Revathy.

The story of Salaam Venky is based on Shrikant Murthy’s book The Last Hurrah. Talking about her journey with the book, Revathy said, “I got my hands on the book in 2007. I worked on two-three different versions because I felt that the book had a story that needed to be told. But things didn’t work out because people didn’t believe in making a story like this. By 2011, I gave up”

“In 2017, the book came to me again thanks to Suuraj Sinngh. I was like no, not this book again. Because I had spent three-four years on it. But since 2018, suddenly things started to fall into place. Our writer Sameer Arora told me his take on the book. That hooked me,” she added.

Watch the trailer here:

The two-minute-17-second-long trailer ends with a glimpse of Aamir Khan looking at Kajol standing in a passage. Talking about Aamir’s cameo, Revathy said, “Aamir said that he wanted to read his scenes. I sent him his scenes. He read the scenes and said, "I am doing this film".”

Salaam Venky is set to release in cinemas on December 9.