Actress Kajol, who plays the role of a terminally ill boy’s mother in Salaam Venky, says that working on the Revathy-directed film has taught her not to let her fear rule the life of her children.
“You can’t escape the fact that you are a mother. What I took from the film was that I won’t let my fear rule my children’s life. The story of Venky (Vishal Jethwa) and Sujata (Kajol) is inspiring not only because of what they did but because they did it without wanting to show it to everybody. It’s about living in the moment and making Venky’s 25 years count,” the actress, who completed 30 years in the Hindi film industry this year, said.
The film, which explores the real-life story of Venky and Sujata, throws light on how the mother-son duo faced their ordeals after Venky was diagnosed with duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Earlier, the 48-year-old actress had refused to play the role of Sujata because she did not want to do a film in which something happens to her children. However, her perception changed when she met the real-life Sujata.
“Her (Sujata) relationship with her son was so amazing maybe because they had only each other. She had to be brave because she wanted him to be brave. She wanted to give him whatever he wanted. She tried her level best to teach him how to fight. Sujata took care of Venky when there were not as many facilities and medicines as there are now. She would take him to the movies every week when there was no wheelchair access in theatres. She made sure that he enjoyed his life and fought for his life,” said Kajol, recalling her meeting with Sujata.
Kajol, who played the wife of Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare in the national Award-winning 2019 film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, said that playing a real-life character on-screen was a greater responsibility.
“The responsibility is more important, especially when they aren’t public figures and are alive. If I have to live with this film and character, she [Sujata] has to live with it much more. Because it’s her that I am playing. And she has to look at it and say I can live with that,” said Kajol.
“At no point do I want to go away from who she is. A known character is unmistakable to play. You can’t play it wrong. It is difficult to portray a simple character. How do you portray her essence on screen? I have tried hard to stay true to her character as much as possible,” the actress further explained.
Kajol, who made her Bollywood debut with Bekhudi (1992), will be reuniting with her first co-actor Kamal Sadanah in Salaam Venky. Sharing her excitement, she said, “It was an amazing feeling. We have met each other somewhere or the other in all these years. We know what’s happening in each other’s lives. But to see someone on set with whom you had done your first film, and now reuniting after 30 years, was an amazing feeling. It was surreal.”
The film also features Vishal Jethwa. Rahul Bose, Rajeev Khandelwal, Prakash Raj and Aamir Khan, who will be making a special appearance in the film.
Salaam Venky is set to release in theatres on December 9.
