'Women must be made to feel safe'

HONEST OPINION

Actress Kajal Aggarwal wears oodles of confidence on her sleeve. The success of her film ‘Jilla’, opposite Vijay last year, was the icing on the cake for the pretty lass. She has almost finished shooting for ‘Maari’ and has a couple of other projects lined up with some of the biggest names in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu industry.

The ‘director’s actor’, as Kajal likes to call herself, says that she prefers to be moulded by the director. “The director conceptualises and imagines the character to be in a certain way and as an actor, I always strive to give the director exactly what he wants in terms of characterisation,” says Kajal, who was in the City recently for a promotional event for Olay.

Talking about her role in ‘Maari’, Kajal says that she plays a fashion designer, who also has to deal with a peculiar phobia. “People will see me in the ‘kurta pajama’ look and for once, I’ve shed my glamourous image. Having to live with a phobia is no easy task,” she says.

In another project titled ‘Temper’, Kajal essays the role of an animal-lover and her character is steeped in comedy. “I really like to make people laugh. I don’t want to do some lame humour sequence. It must be solid in content and presentation. In comedy, timing is everything so I want to try my hand at matching the two,” she adds.  

Like many other actresses who have done women-centric films, Kajal too yearns to do a women-oriented project someday. “It’s shocking to read about women and children being subjected to all kinds of brutality. I think every boy must be taught to respect women from a young age,” she shares. She also thinks that men must be told that women are somebody’s daughter, mother and wife. “Women must be made to feel safe in this country,” she adds. 

Talking about her experience of doing films in different languages, Kajal observes, “There are some great technicians in the South. The Tamil industry is steeped in reality while the Telugu films are larger than life. The Kannada industry is a neat blend of reality and fiction.”   

Commenting further on the Kannada film industry, she says, “Kannada film industry might be small but it reels out some realistic cinema. The films here have soul and offer loads of entertainment. I’d love to do a Kannada movie someday,’’ she sums up.