Kajol was born in Mumbai of Bengali Marathi descent, and belongs to a family with a long and respectable history in Indian cinema. Her mother, Tanuja, is a renowned actress, whilst her late father, Shomu Mukherjee, was a film producer. Her late maternal aunt, Nutan, was one of the finest actresses that Hindi cinema has known and is the record holder for the most (five times) Filmfare Awards for 'Best Actress', while her late maternal grandmother, Shobhna Samarth and great grandmother Rattan Bai, had both been influential figures in the early stages of Hindi cinema.
Her paternal grandfather, Sasadhar Mukherjee was a famous filmmaker and the legacy was carried forward by his sons, Kajol's father and uncles, Joy Mukherjee and Deb Mukherjee. Her paternal grandmother, Satirani Devi, was the sister of the three Ganguly brothers, Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar.
Kajol's cousins, Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukherjee and Mohnish Behl are also Bollywood actors while 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 awards for 'Best Actress'. After the success of 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' in 2001, she took a sabbatical from 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 to films with Kunal Kohli's 'Fanaa' (2006) opposite Aamir Khan, for which she received her fourth Filmfare for 'Best Actress'. Kajol is highly regarded as one of India's most successful and talented actresses. In all, she has won four Filmfare awards for 'Best Actress', placing her at par with the legendary Meena Kumari and Madhuri Dixit.
Besides her work with Karan and Shah Rukh, Kajol has many other good films to her credit like 'Gupt: The Hidden Truth' (1997), which co starred Bobby Deol and Manisha Koirala. One of the highest grossing films of the year, Gupt also won Kajol the Filmfare for best villain, becoming the first female to be awarded so. She also managed to make a dent in Tamil films with her debut venture, 'Minsaara Kanavu', which won her the first best actress award at the Filmfare Awards' South ceremony. In the same year, she was also seen in the romantic comedy 'Ishq', where she was paired with her beau, 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, both in India and overseas.
With husband Devgn deciding to turn director, Kajol was the natural choice to play the female lead in their home venture, 'U Me Aur Hum.' She was next seen in Johar's 'My Name Is Khan', again opposite Shah Rukh. She was last seen in the Hindi remake of Hollywood blockbuster, Stepmom, titled 'We Are Family' where she was pitted against Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. The film was directed by debutant Siddharth Malhotra and produced by Karan. As expected, the actress was the show stopper in the movie, as she wowed everybody with her performance. Currently, the actress has opted for another sabbatical, as she is expecting her second child.
