For decades, Kajol has long been celebrated not just for her ferocious performances but for maintaining a personal distance in front of the camera, never kissing on screen. But in the legal drama series The Trial, she shocked many by violating that longstanding rule. The decision wasn’t impulsive.
Kajol discovered that part of it was the evolution of trends and stories in narrative around her industry, which was also produced by her development as an actress. As a result, Indian viewers have shown themselves to be more open, even more over the years, to true depictions of people and characters on screen or the web, in all fairness, in fact, even more open to multi-layered roles untainted by stale clichéd stereotype films.
Kajol’s The Trial centres around a character with a personal and professional conflict. The stories demanded emotional authenticity, so wherever they offered it, they also required a measure of intimacy: an intimacy that would be wanting if it hadn’t been for touches. Kajol told me that she didn't feel that the scene was in there to shock, but to enhance her character and story. Kajol revealed her mind process in interviews – in that moment she said she always "does what feels right for the character".
She was also accustomed to foregoing on-set kissing outright in her early days of acting, at least for her own well-being and for how a role was being pitched to her then. But as the content evolved certainly into OTT media scripts became far more complicated, character-driven.
Another critical decision had an impact on her decision: the belief that the creative team had to be responsible. Kajol has consistently said that she only accepts projects in which she is sure of the director’s ideas and how scenes are being told. With the tenderness needed to get there in this moment of tenderness, to be certain that the intimacy would be handled with tenderness within The Trial, she was made to know further.
And the OTT space opened up actors to stretch against the grain of classic Bollywood even more than before. In contrast to conventional cinema, web show directors often address themes on a much more personal, realistic, and real scale. This does offer some actors some opportunity to take risks. Kajol has brought fans and insiders' attention.
Some of the storytellers have been surprised by this, others patted her on the back in time as they take pleasure from her adapting to modern times and putting the process of telling a tale more or less above the boundaries of her self. It is emblematic of a broader phenomenon in the entertainment business in which actors are stretching themselves and moving into careers that stretch them creatively.
And ultimately, Kajol’s violation, nearly 30 years in the making of her no-kissing rule, isn’t so much about a kiss as about a movement of her art. It also demonstrates how even the most lovable stars continue to reimagine themselves (one cannot even countenance defeat), and that a story has to have the will to cross boundaries we have for so long given up on.
