‘I was trembling’: Kajal Aggarwal recalls assistant director removing shirt to show tattoo | Entertainment News
4 min readNew DelhiJul 28, 2026 09:56 PM IST
Kajal Aggarwal has been one of South India’s most adored stars for nearly two decades, inspiring an immense fan following across languages. But the actor says one fan encounter on a film set left her shaken rather than flattered.
In an interview with ABP News, Kajal opened up about an unsettling incident involving an assistant director who entered her caravan without permission while she was alone and surprised her by revealing a tattoo of her name. While she appreciated the gesture, she said the way it unfolded crossed a line.
Kajal Aggarwal recalls unsettling incident
Recalling the incident, Kajal said, “A few days ago, after wrapping up a shoot for a film, I was resting in my caravan. At that time, a person working as an assistant director on the film suddenly entered my caravan without taking permission. He immediately took off his shirt and showed me a tattoo of my name on his chest. I was so shocked by the incident that my hands and legs started trembling.”
The actor said she understood that the tattoo came from a place of admiration, but stressed that entering a woman’s private space without consent was unacceptable.
“I was happy that he had gotten my name tattooed on his body. However, it was completely inappropriate for him to enter when a woman was alone without taking permission. No matter how big a fan someone is, such behaviour is unacceptable. I warned him that doing something like this could lead to criminal action and then sent him away,” she added.
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Kajal Aggarwal on choosing South films over Bollywood
Kajal Aggarwal has often spoken candidly about her experiences in the film industry. Earlier, in an interview with Shubhankar Mishra, the actor explained why she became selective about Hindi films despite sharing screen space with several Bollywood stars.
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“The quality of work I was getting down South was not something I was getting in Bollywood. The roles that I wanted – my priority was quality over quantity, and South was giving me such roles in abundance, so why would I do average roles in Bollywood? My priority was qualitative cinema. Language was never a barrier for me. I enjoy the craft of moviemaking. It took me seven movies to fall in love with my craft, but once I fell in love, I was very committed,” Kajal said.
She also compared the work culture in Bollywood and the South film industry, saying punctuality is one area where Hindi cinema could improve.
“Bollywood should learn punctuality from the South. In Hindi films, nothing is on time. In the South, they work by the clock. I am used to reaching on time, and I like it that way. In Hindi, the timings are very off,” she said.
When asked which actor had kept her waiting the longest on a film set, Kajal Aggarwal named Salman Khan.
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“Salman Khan has made me wait the longest, and I was not used to it. I wondered what was happening. He came around afternoon or evening, so I would go to exercise in the gym, which was on set. I am used to the punctuality and discipline of South cinema.”
The actor also spoke about the changing portrayal of women in South cinema.
She said, “South is now learning to write liberal roles for female protagonists from Bollywood and also coming-of-age roles. They are no longer obsessed with female navels. I always drew the line and never did such roles. You are not throwing fruits on my navel, boss!”
Kajal Aggarwal will next be seen in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana Part 1, in which she plays Mandodari.
