60 extremely funny minutes with Kajol and Twinkle

“You want to take that, Twinkle?” Kajol asks, just as I begin my interview with a question about the root of their no-boundaries closeness.

“No, you take it first,” Twinkle proffers.

“Why, because you want to think of an answer? Hmmm,” Kajol says, bursting into laughter.

There’s no crisis of confidence here. With these two, the cackle and the camaraderie come hand in hand. On their own, they are two funny women, but together they are gleeful, somewhat outrageous but, most of all, unstoppable.

We’re chatting on a three-way Zoom call—Kajol is in Ahmedabad and Twinkle at her home in Mumbai. It’s barely been a month since the duo transitioned from actor and author, respectively, to become the chatty, chops-busting and mildly controversial talk-show hosts of Two Much, Prime Video’s newest celeb-focussed show. With no prior experience, interviewing famous people comes naturally to them—why wouldn’t it? Kajol Devgan, the prolific actor with six Filmfare awards under her belt, has spent over three decades in the Hindi film industry, while writer and columnist Twinkle Khanna comes with a wit that she has honed over the decade since she wrote her debut novel, Mrs Funnybones.

At The Nod shoot at Bandra’s iconic Peace Haven, they have this chemistry that makes them look like two good-looking friends who really love each other’s company. Through the shoot—and most of our interview—they improvise and riff off each other.

“By the time I’m 60, I would like to be the editor of British Vogue as well as the education minister of India,” shares Twinkle.

“Bro, that’s a lot. Choose one,” retorts Kajol between shots.

This is all to show that an interview with them somehow feels like a private stand-up performance. They laugh frequently and wholeheartedly—Twinkle deadpans. Kajol has a more wholesome loud guffaw, often accompanied with a quick thwack on her companion’s shoulder or thigh. Compliments are given and received lightly, many a time with a proverbial wink and a nod. With them, you get the feeling you’re never really in on the joke.

This easy repartee and chemistry would make it seem like they have been close friends their entire lives. But in reality, till this show, they only circled each other’s orbits, with brief interactions as children born to film families and then as actors in adulthood. “Our parents were friends; our fathers even did a few big movies together. She’s a writer, I’m a reader, and we have always enjoyed chatting,” says Kajol.

“We’ve lived adjacent lives, almost parallel really,” Twinkle adds. “We both went to boarding schools in Panchgani, minutes away from the other; we were both meant to be in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai; I interviewed her for a show on Tweak; we both knit and crochet, and really quite honestly, the only thing we don’t have in common is that she is a great actor and I’m not,” says the self-roasting writer, and Kajol can’t help but let our her signature belly laugh.

When the concept of a primetime talk show led by women was brought to Kajol, she says that Twinkle was really the only choice. “You get a sense of a person, and we’re both on the same wavelength,” she says of her co-host. They do have a lot in common. Left to themselves, their self-deprecating remarks, no-limits conversations, and lack of filter can keep you entertained.

“We know our guests well; we’ve worked with many of them,” says Kajol about their hall-of-fame guestlist, which has everyone from Salman Khan to Govinda and Janhvi Kapoor to Karan Johar. “We know so many anecdotes that others won’t. This is living-room banter, and of course we want to talk about issues but not in a preachy way—that’s not the aim. We wanted to start conversations, rather than come to conclusions,” Twinkle adds, saying they have addressed topics like ageing and menopause through these episodes.  

In the past month, some of these conversations have showed up on our feeds. The internet has widely debated the pronouncements that every episode delivers—whether it’s their nonchalant response to physical infidelity or the preposterous positioning of a film star's life vis-à-vis that of someone in a dead-end 9-to-5 job.

Just as we start to discuss this, as if on cue, Twinkle’s dog, Jeeves, starts barking, a cacophony audible through the computer screen.

“See, even the dog wants to add his two bits. I can’t believe you named your dog Jeeves. Does he bring you tea in the morning?” Kajol zings.

“He was a British dog, now he’s in Maharashtra. He’s become Jeebu,” Twinkle shoots back.

In the hour ahead, the conversation just keeps going. Jeeves barks a few more times through the chat but not enough to derail the fun. As we speak, I realise that with these two, you don’t need to write the story. If you listen in, the story just writes itself.

What was the clincher in deciding to do Two Much?

Twinkle: At this point, it’s always ‘Who am I working with?’. With Kajol, what you see is what you get. I trust her.

Kajol: Likewise. We light up each other. Absolutely.

Twinkle: That’s Kajol’s favourite word: ‘Absolutely’.

Kajol: Absolutely. Sprinkle it throughout the interview!

Twinkle: But yes, for me it’s important to have an honest working relationship. There’s no competition here. I’ve never heard of her trying to sabotage or talk behind someone’s back. It’s not my profession, but it’s great to have a lark.

There are hardly any female talk-show hosts. Who were your lodestars while working on this show?

Twinkle: Oprah. The way she conducts her interviews, her shows, her life... There’s meaning to everything. Also, Kapil Sharma and Karan Johar; what they both do in bits and pieces, no one else can do.

Kajol: Absolutely. Can’t get away from Ellen [DeGeneres] also! But note we haven’t said our names, because we are far down the rung right now. (laughs)

You managed to get some pretty famous people as guests on Two Much. How did you plan your guest pairings?

Kajol: Lots we wanted to get but haven’t. But I won’t give you the list right now. Hopefully, for the next season. We wanted the pairings that people would want to see, and some that we found interesting. There’s Karan Johar and Janhvi Kapoor, which I thought was super interesting…”

Twinkle: Govinda and Chunky!

Kajol: Iconic.

Twinkle: We worked really hard to get Govinda on the show. We called him so many times, Kajol went to his house. He’s an icon. And with Chunky, that combination, that’s nostalgic.

Twinkle, what’s a role of Kajol’s you’ve loved?

Kajol: Wait, wait, can I say the role I loved of hers?

Twinkle: You can’t say the same joke again and again! It’s her favourite movie.

Kajol: Mela!

Twinkle: I’ve not loved any of Kajol’s movies as much as she has loved Mela. I realise that some of the movies that don’t do well become iconic. I was watching Andaz Apna Apna, and I was like, how could it not do well? Badshah, Tees Maar Khan... They’ve also now become cult movies. I’m not saying that Mela is in the same category (laughs)…but it’s probably what I’m remembered for more than my hit movies.

Kajol, what’s your favourite Twinkle Khanna book?

Twinkle: I don’t know if she’s even read my books. She’s just saying it.

Kajol: I’ve read. I’ve read Welcome to Paradise (2023). I love her short stories. She has a phenomenal memory. And it’s a little scary; she remembers the weirdest things. Twinkle always says, ‘I’ve got years and years of my columns in my head.’ She spouts them at a rapid pace.

Twinkle: I do remember weird things. My son is very funny and has some great one-liners. I note all of them and give them to characters in my books. My biggest fear is that I’m losing my memory, or that I’ll get Alzheimer’s or dementia. It’s an actual fear. So, I do a lot of things to keep my brain alive. I read aloud, I play puzzles, I play mahjong.

You both are quite different and vociferous with your opinions. Is there anything you agree on?

Kajol: We agree on a lot of things. It’s instinctive… Like, women are superior.

Twinkle: Our viewpoints are different, but our moral compass is the same. Our binaries are similar. We agree on what is correct.

Kajol: Though she short-circuits quite often…

Twinkle: So do you! But yes, we really should have more filters than we do.

As actor and writer, respectively, and now as talk-show hosts, what’s the one skill you need to have?

Kajol: For both, an acting ability, to keep your reactions in check. I don’t think I’ve managed it on the talk show as well as I have on [the film] screen. Everything shows on my face.

Twinkle: As a writer you have to be very observant, you have to capture bits of reality...

[Jeeves, as if on cue, starts barking]

Kajol: What do a dog and a talk-show host have in common? They both bark!

Twinkle: Hopefully not. But yes, you have to find an opening and go under that to peel another layer. A writer and a host are similar that way.

What makes you laugh?

Kajol: My daughter, Nysa. She’s an entertainment channel. She’s snarky and she can make anything sound funny.

Twinkle: I grew up in a very funny family. Gujaratis are naturally funny. My grandfather was a bona fide comedian and so was my aunt Simple. And let's be honest, when you are born into a family where there’s a Dimple, Simple and Twinkle and you don’t have a sense of humour, you may as well be dead. I remember being at an immigration counter. The officer looked at all our passports and asked us if we were joking. I come from the belief that it’s more important to have a punchline than to be nice. It’s all banter.

How do you continue to find joy in what you do? 

Twinkle: Writing evolves with age and time, and a formal education is a scaffolding that is essential. I feel the same joy as I did back then. I lost the joy for a bit during Covid, but I wrote a column for a Sunday paper recently and what it does for my mind and heart. It is irreplaceable.

Kajol: At first, it was a necessity—finding your groove and what you were good at. Now it’s choosing to be there without any strings attached. That’s an unmatched freedom. When I turned 50, I felt free of opinions and responsibilities. My son is 15 this year and my daughter is 22, and I can do whatever the fuck I want to do. No opinion matters—social media or otherwise. I also feel this is the age you look your best, you feel your best. 

Twinkle: I did write a column about this!

Kajol: Oh god, here we go again!

Twinkle: We’re at this stage where young people don’t notice you—you're invisible—and the older ones who would lecture you are dead or senile.

What have you passed down to your children? 

Kajol: Nysa and I love to read. My son is more like me in temperament; we laugh a lot.

Twinkle: Both my kids have these one-liners that pop in. I really appreciate that. But what I really like is how different they are too. As we speak, my daughter is in a football final in Chennai, and I do not have a coordinated limb in my body. So, I’m thrilled to see them do different things. My son loves design, architecture, and fashion. I get a little insight into these worlds where I do not have such a strong hold—I value that more than what we have in common.

Kajol: She’s written it down in some column for sure!

Twinkle: I haven’t, but I really should. It would make a good one.

Editorial Direction: Megha Mahindru, Ridhima Sapre. Photography: Apeksha Maker/ The House of Pixels. Fashion and Creative Direction: Anaita Shroff Adajania. Art Direction: Harry Iyer. Visual Direction: Jay Modi. Bookings Editor: Nikita Moses. Multimedia Designer: Mehak Jindal. Visuals Editor: Ria Rawat. Hair: Yianni Tsapatori, Sangeeta Hegde. Makeup: Namrata Soni (Twinkle), Mallika Bhat (Kajol). Assistants: Neona Bahri, Mythili Panjabi. Production: Imran Khatri Productions