When Kajol revealed how Tanuja told her about separation with Shomu Mukherjee

Veteran actor Tanuja turns 79 on Friday. The actor, who worked in hit movies such as Haathi Meri Saathi, Do Chor and Anubhav, is also mother to actors Kajol and Tanishaa Mukherjee. Last year, in an interview to Hindustan Times, Kajol had spoken about how Tanuja always treated her with respect and like an adult. (Also read: When Mahesh Bhatt said his family will miss him but be happy upon his death)

Speaking about her mother’s parenting style, she said, “I never had a rebellion as such with my mother. I had the most amazing relationship with her because she is amazing. Everything that she did in my life, every decision that she made, she explained it to me in the way I could understand it.” Tanuja even explained why she separated from Shomu Mukherjee. “Whether it was my parents breaking up, whether it was going to work or being a working woman. Whatever the bigger points in my life, she sat down, discussed with me, explained it to me, she waited for me to understand, figure things out and accept them before she got up from her chair and said ‘discussion over’,” Kajol said about her mother.

In another interview with HT, she said, “My mum and I always had the best relationship and it has only gone on from strength to strength. We don’t discuss whether I should do a film or not. It has always been my decision and mine alone from the time I was 16,” she said. About her advices, she said, “My mum gave me a lot of advice and I didn’t listen to any of it till I reached a problem and then her advice would ring in my ears at the just the right time and I knew what the right thing to do was at just the right time. So, I ignored everything till I needed it.”

Tanuja, however, said in an interview with Scroll that she never gave her daughter advices. “My daughters, I have brought them up. I didn’t give them advice. I trained them. That’s a different thing. That’s a mother’s duty to do, teach them how to think for themselves, how to be their own person, how to be who they are or who they want to be. That is up to them. It’s their life, not mine, if I give them the proper values of life,” she said. “The basic Hindu culture as to who are you – respect your elders, be kind, be compassionate, be gentle and learn how to draw your own line. It’s as simple as that and whatever choices you make, they are your responsibilities, so think before you make a choice and then you deal with the consequences of that choice,” she added.