Kajol at 50: Actor made a risky choice of playing a psycho killer in Gupt, paved the path for female actors to play villains

Kajol in a still from Rajiv Rai directorial Gupt. (Photo: Trimurti Films)

Based on the 1967 novel Good Children Don’t Kill by author Louis Thomas, Gupt is a lightweight mystery, closer to a comic book plot than a Hitchcockian thriller. Gupt throws logic out the window with its outlandish story — a spoiled rich kid, Sahil (Bobby Deol) finds himself framed for his stepdad’s (Raj Babbar) murder based on his own mother’s testimony. To clear his name and find the real culprit, he escapes from prison (how he escapes from the jail is a story for another day), aided by the two women who love him, Isha (Kajol) and Sheetal (Manisha Koirala). Meanwhile, a quirky cop, Om Puri, delves into the case as the deceased’s associates played by Kulbushan Kharbanda, Prem Chopra, Raza Murad, Dalip Tahil, Sharat Saxena, and Paresh Rawal become both suspects and targets, picked off one by one. There’s a locket that solves the big mystery. A lot happens at the same time in Gupt. One second Sahil is chasing the culprit, and the next, he is dancing in a faraway land with the two women fixated on him. Not everything makes sense in the film, and it is Kajol who makes the most of this breezy, comic book-inspired mystery. 

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Even in the dialogues which Gen Z can call ‘cringe,’ Kajol gives it her all. In a scene where she tells Manisha’s character, “Main ek alag kisam ki ladki hoon,” with rage in her eyes and a mysterious smirk on her lips, the young actor gives a subtle hint of the darkness within.  A leading lady at the peak of her career might have had reservations while handed out the lines, “Sahil ko paane ne ke liye main sau khoon kar sakti hoon aur jo bhi beech mein aayega, uski jaan le lungi,” but then a 23-year-old Kajol delivered them with much conviction, not fearing if the success of the film or her powerful performance would result in her only getting vamp roles later.

Kajol’s villainous role, Isha Diwan, was initially offered to Manisha Koirala who instead chose to play safe by opting to essay Sheetal (Photos: Trimurti Films)

For the actor, who made her debut with Bekhudi at 17 and became a national crush after the roaring success of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, which starred Shah Rukh Khan, she was skating on thin ice in Gupt. Playing a negative role was a significant departure from her girl-next-door image seen in Yeh Dillagi and Baazigar, and there was a risk that audiences might not accept her dark character. In the ’90s, Bollywood female actors were often expected to play a certain types of roles that fit the conventional mould of a heroine. Interestingly, both Raveena Tandon and Manisha Koirala, who played the ‘good girl’ Sheetal in Gupt, had turned down the role. 

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“It was the shock value of the film, the character, and the fact that nobody expected it to come. It was gutsy at that time to do it. It’s the story and role that really got me to do it,” Kajol told PTI during the special screening of Gupt in 2022 when the film clocked 25 years. This bold performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role, a first for any actress. But Kajol has always been unconventional — from confidently embracing her unibrows to owing her appearance and her ‘dusky’ complexion with elan, she always chose to be different. Unlike her contemporaries, who juggled multiple projects, Kajol preferred to focus on one film at a time. Director Tanuja Chandra describes her as “adventurous” in her choice of roles.

 

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Recently, in an interview with Zee, Janhvi Kapoor confessed to checking her boyfriend’s phone, a habit she humorously acknowledged as a “red flag.” Ananya Panday, during her latest appearance on Neha Dhupia’s No Filter Neha, admitted to calling her boyfriend 50 to 75 times, stating that she doesn’t like to give ‘space.’ If their confession makes you think of their obsessive behaviour as ‘toxic,’ wait till you watch Kajol‘s ‘psycho girlfriend act’ in Gupt, which will send chills down the spine, despite her devilish side only appearing in the last 10 minutes of the film. “It was not me at all — that’s why I find this role memorable even now,” Kajol said in an earlier interview.

Kajol was looking to experiment with her roles and recalled being excited about the prospect of acting in a Rajiv Rai film; however, the filmmaker wasn’t convinced if the ’90s sweetheart of rom-coms, who already had a hit pairing opposite Shah Rukh Khan, would agree to play a murderer. The director had earlier helmed Yudh, Tridev, and Mohra. “I think he (Rajiv Rai) was a little nervous because he was not sure whether I would do the film. He sat for a two-hour narration and was sweating profusely. But by the end of it, both Tanisha (her sister) and I were like, ‘I have to do this film.’ There was no question about it; it was perfect for me,” Kajol reminisced.

 

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Film critic Sukanya Verma, in her article, 25 Stunning Frames of Gupt, analysing the climax scene where Kajol is holding a knife ready to stab Manisha, wrote, “When the darling of rom-coms transformed into a devilish figure in the final moments of Gupt, the audience didn’t know what hit them — a milestone moment in Kajol’s career. But why it really works so well is Rai isn’t calculated or gimmicky about the shocker. Mehta (legendary cameraman Ashok Mehta) faithfully captures Kajol’s wholehearted submission to the dark side with the conspicuous Nataraja figure, also a symbol of destruction, in the background. The frame practically screams, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’”

Kajol acted with her eyes in Gupt. In those limited frames, she was menacing in her blood-lust gaze. Her deep brown eyes didn’t reflect the innocence of Simran or coyness of Sapna (Yeh Dillagi). She was not the girl next door. She had metamorphosed into a villain who would be dreaded.  The climax scene sees Kajol’s range as an actor, showcasing several emotions, from vengeance to anger, fear to helplessness, and love. As she struggles to kill Sheetal, she doesn’t take her eyes off an injured Bobby. “Sahil, tumhe yeh chot kaise lagi?” she asks with concern in her voice. She goes from a monster to a caring girlfriend in seconds, moments before she is killed. 

There are often comparisons between Shah Rukh’s Darr  and Baazigar and Kajol’s Gupt. Kajol’s Isha elicits shock and fear, especially due to the twist in her character’s revelation. Shah Rukh’s Rahul in Darr manages to evoke both fear and a certain degree of sympathy, making the audience see the tragedy in his obsession. In Baazigar, his Ajay/Vicky character garners sympathy due to his backstory, even as he commits dark deeds.

The makers of Gupt had originally approached Raveena to play Kajol’s character, but she turned down the offer (Trimurti Films)

Two years later, Urmila Matondar, who played a mysterious character in Ram Gopal Varma’s Kaun and delivered a standout performance. Seven years after Gupt’s release, 21-year-old Priyanka Chopra played Sonia, a confident, ambitious, and assertive woman, who doesn’t mind manipulating situations and people to get what she wants, in Aitraaz. And we have Kajol to thank for that as she paved the path for the acceptance of women characters as grey and dark as they can be and yet not get caged in the image like actors of yesteryears, Bindu or Aruna Irani got. 

 

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By her own admission, the actor said she would have regretted if she didn’t play Isha in Gupt. Kajol, who later played grey characters in Dilwale and VIP 2, said that she has always felt it’s more interesting to watch women “who are a little more okay with being grey than watching pure virgin white,” reported DNA.

“Female negative characters were never called villains, but vamps. It’s become a cool thing now because you realise that heroines need not necessarily be good, sweet and sugary all the time. They can be of different flavours — lemony lime and even chilli,” said Kajol, adding, “Honestly, there’s not much difference left between a vamp of that time and a heroine of today, frankly. In a way it is progressive, it’s like we are coming into our own. We are certainly breaking away from the stereotypes.”