Seasoned actor and parliamentarian Jaya Bachchan, who turns 65 on Tuesday, says her role as a mother matters more to her than anything else. She also admits that she takes her duty as a member of Parliament seriously and that she is still game for movie roles, provided they are ‘challenging’.
Jaya gave up superstardom in 1973 when she ruled the box-office, to become wife to Amitabh Bachchan and subsequently mother to Shweta and Abhishek. “Everyone saw it as a big sacrifice and touted me as mother India. There was no sacrifice involved because no one can make me do what I don’t want to,” she said.
The pioneering performer heralded naturalistic acting into mainstream Hindi cinema. When she came into the movies with her two back-to-back performances in Guddi and Uphaar in 1971, Jaya’s complete denial of the ‘filmy’ glamour became a trend-setting phenomenon. From 1972 to 1973, her hairstyle and specially-designed blouses with puffed sleeves became a rage among women in the country. “I thought other actors were fashion icons, I was just Jaya,” she laughed uproariously and added, “I just wore and did what seemed right for me. The thought of doing anything that doesn’t come naturally to me, seems unacceptable.”
Jaya enjoyed an intense success-streak from 1971 to 1973, right up to film-maker Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan, Mili and Chupke Chupke – all three with her husband – before she called it quits. Virtually every film she did made money at the box office. For a while, it seemed that there was no other leading lady except Hema Malini to challenge Jaya’s reign.
But Jaya feels that there are no challenging roles anymore as she said, “Where are the roles? Show me challenging roles for an actor of my age and I am game, as I was for Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa or even Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kal Ho Naa Ho.”
Expressing how she feels about being a parliamentarian, she added, “Today when the two boys in my life [Amitabh and Abhishek] don’t need my presence, I have taken on the responsibility of being a Rajya Sabha member. That’s no self-indulgence for me; I take my job as parliamentarian very seriously.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2013.
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