Kajol-Ajay Devgan: Their Movies Together Before Tanhaji

In this  business  of  brittle relationships and  broken dreams  it is easy to forget  that Kajol and Ajay Devgan have been married for 20 years . They have co-starred  in 9 films  not counting  a  couple  of  guest appearances  together and an animation film. Here’s their best  shared  space in feature films.

1.     Pyar Toh Hona  Hi Tha(1998): Kajol  and Ajay Devgan met  for the first time on the sets of Anees Bazmi’s awful and forgetful   Hulchal in 1995. The same year  they got to spend more time together  in an even more awful film Gundaraj. Finally three years later  they  got to do a decent  love story  . A  scene-by-scene ripoff of  the 1995 Meg Ryan-Kevin Kline romcom French Kiss.No, there was no kissing, French or otherwise, in Anees Bazmi’s film.  However  for  the first time we saw genuine chemistry between Ajay and Kajol. Their earlier films gave them no  scope for chemistry.The directors were too busy doing their maths

2.     Ishq (1997):  A year before  Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha(or as Remo Fernadez sang, ‘PR Toh Onna Eee Taaa’)  Kajol joined hands  with  Devgan for some goofy fun in this Indra  Kumar nonsense which also starred Aamir and  Juhi.I remember Aamir telling me in an interview that Kajol was very badly behaved  during Ishq. Luckily Ajay didn’t think so.In any case  Ishq was a film about bad behaviour.

3.     Dil Kya Kare(1981): Prakash Jha decided to  move away from  political  dramas  to make what he  thought  was  a full-on romantic  drama. Ajay,a very close friend of  Jha, and  Kajol became  Jha’s guinea pigs in what turned out to be the weirdest love story  ever made on Planet Earth. Want to know how it went? Here goes: Kajol meets Devgan  on a train when she  is  attacked by goons. Devgan rescues her and they make  love. Yes!  You read that right. Years later she  turns up at his  doorstep with their child. I  hear  Ajay and Kajol still have good laugh over this one.  Come to think of it Dil Kya Kare was funnier than Ishq.Unintentionally, of course.

4.     Raju Chacha(2000): With  this  film Ajay Devgan  turned producer. With his  brother Raju Devgan directing Kajol slipping into the   leading lady’s slot  was  a family obligation. The  film about a group of  rich orphans rescued  by their saviour Raju Chacha was a  big bomb at the  boxoffice.The  scenes  of  child abuse were morbid in their tragic  desperation. And Kajol as a nanny looked far from nurturing.Nysa and Yug had nor arrived as yet.

5.     U Me Aur Hum(2007): Ripped  off  from  the  maudlin Nick Cassavetes directed  2004  tearjerker  The Notebook, this film was  notable mainly for Kajol’s performance as an Alzeihmer’s patient. But the film with one-half devoted to hjinks on a cruiser required way too much  patience to get to  the  story. If the truth be  told, Devgan is yet to  do a film with Kajol that justifies her  presence. Would  Tanhaji be that  film?