Rani Mukerji and Kajol open up about their off-screen relationship

Karan Johar hosted Kajol and Rani Mukerji on this week’s episode of ‘Koffee with Karan’ Season 8 and while the episode mostly felt like a ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ reunion fest, the two actors also spoke about their off-screen relationship over the years.

Kajol and Rani are cousins and Rani made her debut at a time when Kajol was already a popular movie star. In the episode, Karan shared that he would always wonder why the two actors weren’t close to each other, considering they were family. Kajol explained that there was some ‘organic distance’ between the two.

Karan said that they didn’t share ‘a close friendship or relationship at all’ and added that Kajol kept ‘a silent distance from Rani’.

“I used to wonder what kind of family this was. They’re not even talking to each other. I thought they were cousins. It will all be good,” he said. Rani explained that she had known Kajol as a kid and admitted that the relationship between the two ‘was a bit strange’.

“She was always Kajol didi for me,” she added. Rani said that it’s always a little difficult to decipher why people grow apart as they grow older and added that even though there was some distance with Kajol, she was and continues to be much closer to Kajol’s younger sister, Tanisha Mukherjee.

When Karan asked how they got closer to each other and built a relationship later in life, Rani said that it actually happened when they lost their fathers. “As a family, when you lose your loved ones, I was very close to Kajol’s dad. When you go through tough times and loss in the family in terms of people you love, I think that’s when everyone comes closer,” Rani said.