She may have looked like the girl-next-door but that she certainly wasn’t. Jaya Bhaduri briefly ruled the roost and was a bigger star than Amitabh Bachchan when she married him. She would have had a longer innings if she hadn’t given up stardom for the comforts of hearth and home. She was so natural in front of the camera that people stopped believing she was an actor and fell in love with the characters she portrayed. In a world full of glam dolls carrying three inch thick make-up, her natural beauty came as a whiff of fresh air. She wasn’t the object of one’s fantasy but someone one wanted to marry. The perfect wife, mother, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law —Jaya perfected all these in real life as well.

Jaya Bhaduri was unlike any actress. Real and refreshing. Completeley averse to bouffants and coquettish adas. This picture was selected as the Filmfare photograph of the fortnight in 1974.

Bright start
Satyajit Ray is credited with discovering her. She was just 15 when she played a supporting role in Mahanagar (1963) but held her own against veterans Anil Chatterji and Madhabi Mukherjee. She entered FTII and was one of the top students (a gold medalist)  of her class. She got her first author-backed role in her first film itself – Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Guddi (1971) where she played a girl obsessed with Dharmendra. Her big film as an actor during this era was Gulzar’s Koshish, where she and Sanjeev Kumar played a deaf-and-dumb couple. She also acted in the seminal Abhimaan (1973), with Amitabh Bachchan, where she played a singer whose husband couldn’t tolerate her being more talented than him.

Being a Bachchan bahu had its own protocol. And the conventional Jaya fit perfectly in Amitabh’s traditionalist yet liberal family. Seen here with ma-in-law Teji Bachchan at a function.

The Jaya-Amitabh romance was a soft, sweet tale, which blossomed on the set of Ek Nazar. Here, Jaya is seen getting playful with Amitabh’s hair, the off-screen chemistry unmistakable.

By the time son Abhishek was born, Jaya had settled into voluntary domesticity. That Bachchan junior continues to be the apple of her eye is a well-known fact.

Here’s a rare picture of Jaya with mother Indira Bhaduri and journalist/writer Taroon Kumar Bhaduri. Incidentally, Jaya studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune and graduated as a gold medalist.

Wedding lights
Amitabh Bachchan got the first hit of his career in Zanjeer (1973) opposite her. That was the film which put him on the road to superstardom. Perhaps he didn’t want to let go of his lucky mascot and hence married her. Jaya started putting off assignments after marriage, though she did do meaningful films like Kora Kagaz (1974), Mili (1975), Chupke Chupke (1975) and Sholay (1975), the biggest hit of her career. After the birth of daughter Shewta in 1974 and son Abhishek in 1976, she gave up films and concentrated on bringing up her children.

The large eyes and long plaits are a giveaway. The Guddi charm was bang on even when Jaya was a little girl.

Never mind the rumours, Jaya held on to her family as a matriarch would. Seen here with hubby Amitabh, son Abhishek and daughter Shweta.

Jaya both surprised and impressed when she took to stage with the Ramesh Talwar directed play Maa Retire Hoti Hai. Her nuanced performance of a woman who weathers the seasons had audiences holding back their tears.

Mentor Hrishikesh Mukherjee presenting the Filmfare Award to Jaya for Nauker.

 

 

Never mind the alleged animosity, Rekha has no qualms about expressing her affection for ‘Didibai’ at the Filmfare Awards.

 

 

Silsila pitted Jaya against Rekha (also with Amitabh), a reel depiction of an extramarital affair, which allegedly mirrored the real.

 

 

Once in a while Jaya went adventurous. Here she’s seen in an experimental avatar for Filmfare. Incidentally, late photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha once said that her face had the most perfect bone structure.
Second innings
She did do films like Silisila (1981), where she co-starred with her husband and Rekha, the supposed other woman in Amitabh’s life. In real life too, she maintained a dignified silence on the alleged affair and didn’t let it affect her marriage. She returned to the big screen after 17 years with Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1988) and won the National Award for her bravura performance as a grief-stricken mother. She also won over theatre-goers with her title role in the popular play Maa Retire Hoti Hai (1999). Her supporting roles in Fiza (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) were written about as well. Now, with the birth of Abhishek and Aishwarya’s daughter Aaradhya, she’s content with pampering her grandchild.

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