Choosing to play down the intolerance debate in India, actress Kajol on Saturday said there are no such dividing lines in Bollywood.
Kajol, Bollywood ActressOur industry will always keep reflecting on what is happening in our society. It will keep on going and everyone is welcome. There are no dividing lines, no caste, no creed and no intolerance in Bollywood. These days people seem to have become over sensitive. As public personalities, it is our duty to speak well and correctly. I have always said my mann ki baat and it is no different now.
Filmmaker Karan Johar, who’s a close friend of Kajol’s, had kicked up a storm with his remarks about freedom of expression being the biggest joke in the country on the inaugural day of the festival.
Kajol, who has worked with Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, refused to react to the backlash faced by the PK star, whose controversial remarks had evoked criticism from many quarters.
A voracious reader, Kajol, who was at the JLF to launch author Ashwin Sanghi’s new book, The Sialkot Saga, said she agreed to marry husband Ajay Devgn because he promised her a library similar to the one in the Hollywood film Beauty and the Beast.
Kajol, who was introduced to Sanghi’s poetry by her mother, says the author’s easy to read style was in fact very difficult to write.
The actor is often seen with a book between shots on the sets and she credited her mother, actress Tanuja, for inculcating the habit of reading in her. Tanuja was also in the audience.
Kajol, Bollywood ActressI don’t remember a time when I didn’t see a book around my mother. She had a 400 book library in her room right above her head. Even I have a library in my room, In fact, I have three libraries in my house. I read not to become a smarter person but for the sheer pleasure of reading a book.
The actress also batted for publishers translating more literature in Hindi and other languages.
Sanghi said he wrote his first book, The Rozabal Line under a pseudonym since he was fed up of rejections.
Ashwin Sanghi, AuthorI was a Guinness book record holder of rejections. I had been rejected 47 times. Then I had to self-publish. There was a fear in me that I’m a lousy writer.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)