Kajol was born in Mumbai of Bengali-Marathi descent, and belongs to a family tree with a long respectable history in the Indian cinema. Her mother Tanuja is a renowned actress, whilst her late father Shomu Mukherjee was a film producer. Her late maternal aunt, Nutan is the record holder for the most (five times) Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. Late maternal grandmother Shobhna Samarth and great grandmother Rattan Bai had both been influential figures in the early stages of Hindi cinema. Her paternal uncles are film producers; Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee. Kajol's paternal grandfather, Sashadhar Mukherjee, was a filmmaker. His wife Satirani Devi, Kajol's paternal grandmother, was the sister of three famous film personalities, Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar. Kajol's cousins Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukherjee and Mohnish Behl are also Bollywood actors whereas her cousin Ayaan Mukerjee is a director. Kajol's younger sister Tanisha Mukherjee is also an actress. With such a strong lineage in Bollywood this girl was sure to make heads turn.
Kajol left her school, St. Josephs Convent at Panchgani and started her career at the age of seventeen. Although her debut film, "Bekhudi' (1992) went unnoticed, her performance was noticed and she went on to work with big production houses in India and her first commercial success came in a big way to her with her second film "Baazigar' (1993) along with Shahrukh Khan, with whom she went on to deliver some of Bollywood's biggest hits, like "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' (1995), "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (1998) and "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' (2001). Her performance in all three of these films was praised and earned her three Filmfare Best Actress Awards. After the success of "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' in 2001, she took a sabbatical from full time acting for five years. Kajol married Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn on February 24, 1999 and on April 20, 2003, she gave birth to a daughter named Nysa. She made a comeback with Kunal Kohli's "Fanaa' (2006) opposite Aamir Khan for which she received her fourth Best Actress Award at the Filmfare. Kajol is highly regarded as one of India's most successful and talented actresses.
In 1997, Kajol starred in "Gupt: The Hidden Truth'. Co-starring actors Bobby Deol and Manisha Koirala, the film was one of the highest grossing films of that year. Apart from that, her performance was a significant development for female actors in Bollywood; she was the first female actor to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award. She next starred in her first Tamil film, "Minsaara Kanavu'. The film was a major critical success and Kajol won her first Best Actress award at the Filmfare Awards South ceremony. In the same year, she was seen in the romantic-comedy "Ishq', where she was paired with her beau, Ajay Devgn. It performed well at the box office. In the year 1998, she starred as a tomboy in Karan Johar's directorial debut, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', which went on to become the biggest hit of the year in both India and overseas. She won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance.
She has won four Filmfare Best Actress Award, which places her at par with two famous Bollywood actresses, Meena Kumari and Madhuri Dixit, each of whom hold 4 Best Actress Awards from Filmfare. (Kajol's late aunt, Nutan currently holds the record for five such awards.)
Kajol will be next seen in Karan Johar's "My Name Is Khan' starring Shah Rukh Khan, which is based on a true story, against the backdrop of perceptions on Islam post September 11. Filming for which had commenced in December 2008 in Los Angeles and ended in October 2009. It is scheduled for release in February 2010. She has also started filming the remake of the Hollywood movie Stepmom on 9 October 2009, where she will be paired with Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal directed by Siddharth Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar.
