There is a reason why Kajol is considered among the most popular actresses in Bollywood of all time. Not only has she been a part of some of the biggest hits in Hindi cinema, she was also a terrific actress, with a fanbase built on her histrionic capability rather than her Insta pictures. She is perhaps one of the few actresses in the male-centric industry for whom film-makers used roles just for her and even give her equal promotion and footage as the hero of the film.

Part of blockbusters like Baazigar, Karan Arjun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha, Ishq etc, Kajol was considered number one actress in the '90s. She later married her Ishq co-star Ajay Devgn in 1998 and later took a short break to focus on her family and motherhood. Even when she returned to acting, she had been very choosy. Her last Hindi film was Dilwale in 2015, while Kajol also played the antagonist in Dhanush's Tamil film, VIP 2. Kajol will be next seen in Pradeep Sarkar's Helicopter Eela, where she plays a possessive mother to a teenager (played by National award-winning actor, Riddhi Sen).

Today, Kajol celebrated her 44th birthday. So on the occasion of this special day, we list seven interesting facts about the star that you should know about!

#1 - Kajol had made her debut in 1992 with Bekhudi when she was studying in school.

#2 - In her breakout movie, Baazigar, Kajol was supposed to be playing twins, one of whom gets killed by Shah Rukh Khan's character. Abbas-Mustan changed the idea later and had Shilpa Shetty (in her debut) play the elder sister. Interestingly, the late Sridevi was the first choice for both the roles.

#3 - Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan are considered the best onscreen jodi in Bollywood with the best success rate. However, their hit ratio could have been affected if Kajol had been cast as the female lead in Dil Se, as was originally planned. Manish Koirala later played the role, but it was a disaster at the box office.

#4 - Kajol has done only two kissing scenes in her career. On in her debut movie, Bekhudi with the lead actor Kamal Sadanah, and the other with Akshay Kumar in Yeh Dillagi.

#5 - The only actress to win the maximum Filmfare awards (6) and also the first to win (the now discontinued) Best Actor in a Negative Role Award for Gupt.

#6 - One of the four Bollywood actors whose dolls under the label were launched in 2006 in the United Kingdom under the name Bollywood Legends. The other stars are Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan.

#7 - Kajol is also the first Bollywood actress to be invited by NASDAQ to open the American Stock Exchange. This happened after the success of My Name is Khan.

On behalf of the entire LatestLY desk, we wish the super talented Kajol Many Many Happy Returns of the Day!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 05, 2018 12:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).