The Must Read Kamini Kaushal Interview

'I made a big fuss about playing Manoj Kumar's mother, but he had made up his mind.' 'He said he would wait until I made up my mind.' 'I was about 40 then. He was so large and I was so tiny!'

- 

Kamini Kaushal passed into the ages, ending a rich career spanning almost eight decades. Her last film was 2022's Laal Singh Chaddha.

We repost an interview of the actress, published in 2007, when she made her comeback on the big screen with Yash Raj Films' Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

Then again, 'comeback' is the wrong word here.

The actor had been busy with television serials like the Chandamama puppet show on Doordarshan -- where she made and lent her voice to the puppets -- as well as Shano Ki Shaadi.

"Everything has changed. Everything is better planned now. But we had a more personal involvement in the work then.

Now, it's done very professionally. In those days, if I wanted a day off, I would plead with them. Today, the leading ladies just inform everyone they are not available."

It has been getting tougher for Kamini to work in serials, as she has to travel two hours each way from her home in Malabar Hill, South Mumbai, to sets in Andheri, northwest Mumbai.

With Laaga Chunari, Kamini makes a return to Yash Raj Films decades after her 1969 film, Aadmi Aur Insaan, starring Saira Banu, Dharmendra and Feroz Khan.

Like her role in Lagaa Chunari, where she plays a loving grandmother to Abhishek Bachchan and Kunal Kapoor, Kamini seems just as fond of Abhishek, whom she has seen grow up.

"I have seen him as a child and as an adult," she smiles.

"Abhishek is so tall and handsome now. He is very nice to work with. It took time for him to find his feet, but now he has. I hope it takes him places."

"My relationship with the Bachchans is very old," she continues.