Kajol is looking forward to the release of her forthcoming film Helicopter Eela starring Riddhi Sen and directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Helicopter Eela is a coming-of-age film in which Kajol plays a single mother. The film harps on the big fear of Kajol’s character that what will happen to her once her son grows up and will no longer need his mother for his every need in life. The film is releasing on September 7, and Kajol has been going on with her promotional duties with a single-minded devotion. During a recent interview to a leading daily, the acclaimed actress spoke about how she relates to film’s character of being a single parent and how the women in her family influenced her personality and life. She also revealed how she was as a child.

Kajol was asked during the interview about the influence her grandmother and great-grandmother had on her life and personality. Kajol, who is well known in the industry for calling a spade a spade said, “My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother were extremely strong women who believed in a lot of things, acted on those beliefs and made sure they led their lives according to their own rules - damn the consequences. That was one inescapable rule that made my life and my decisions easier."

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[caption id="attachment_118913" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Kajol with her mother Tanuja and grandmother Shobana Samarth[/caption]

She further added, "The fact that I lived with these strong women made it simpler for me to be stubborn, have an opinion and stand by it. It affected nearly every aspect of my character. It was about being intelligent and not hiding it, at a time when femininity was equated with certain dumbness and appreciated more because of a certain idiocy. I have inculcated that through every aspect of my personality.”

Kajol who is a mother to two kids – Nysa and Yug, also said that she somehow relates to the single parent character she plays in the film Helicopter Eela. She said, “I understood it because I have lived with my grandmother and great-grandmother nearly all my life. People need to realize that both the parents’ responsibilities come onto one set of shoulders. And Ajay (Devgn) isn’t around for many days in a month when a lot of decisions are taken by me. I’ve to play the good cop, and the bad cop at the same time. I know what it feels like and understand where my character Eela’s paranoia comes from. When you watch the film, you will, too.”

Kajol poked fun at herself too in the interview and described herself as an extremely naughty kid while growing up. She said, “I was very naughty! There was a point when my mama and mami told me, ‘Thank God, you grew up and we don’t have to take care of you or discipline you anymore.’ My dad used to sing this Elvis Presley song to me ‘You look like an angel, you walk like an angel, you talk like an angel... but you are the devil in disguise.’ It completely encapsulated how I was. He always used to tell me that when your mother is around, you are this perfect, sweet child who does everything correctly. But when she’s not around, what happens to you? My mother would say, ‘I hope you have a daughter just like you’.”