Actor Kajol has said that her father, filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee, wasn't in favour of the idea of her getting married at a young age. She said that it was her mother, Tanuja, who encouraged her to follow her instincts.
Kajol will be seen in the family drama, Tribangha, on Friday, and in the run up to the film's release, she has been dropping anecdotes about her own family.
She told Mid-Day, 'My father was against me getting married at 24. He said that I should work more before I tie the knot. My mom was my biggest supporter, and told me to go with my gut. I have been lucky that everybody around has always stood up for me. So, I did exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't have to face patriarchy. Or maybe I faced it without realising, because I can be oblivious in some situations.'
Kajol tied the knot with actor Ajay Devgn in 1999. They have two children, Nysa and Yug. She'd mentioned the altercation with her father in a Humans of Bombay post. 'His parents were on board, but my dad didn’t talk to me for 4 days. He wanted me to focus on my career, but I was firm & he eventually came around. Again, there was no proposal–we just knew we wanted to spend our lives together,' she said.
In an interview to Hindustan Times, Kajol credited her mother for being forthright with her growing up. She said that because of Tanuja, she was able to handle potentially difficult situations like her parents' separation.
'I never had a rebellion as such with my mother. I had the most amazing relationship with her because she is amazing. Everything that she did in my life, every decision that she made, she explained it to me in the way I could understand it. Whether it was my parents breaking up, whether it was going to work or being a working woman. Whatever the bigger points in my life, she sat down, discussed with me, explained it to me, she waited for me to understand, figure things out and accept them before she got up from her chair and said ‘discussion over’,' Kajol said about her mother.