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Subhash K Jha On Jaya Bachchan’s 68th Birthday
In one of her finest performances Jaya Bachchan played mother to a very very endearing son who just becomes a number: 1084.
Co-incidentally I saw Jaya Bachchan playing mom to Joy Sengupta in Govind Nihalani’s unforgettable Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa just a day before Abhishek won an award for his fine performance in Yuva.
Minutes after his name was announced I had received a message from the proud mother informing me of the same. I could see the tears of pride and joy glistening through the words.
Jaya’s role as mother matters more to her than any other. That’s precisely why she gave up superstardom in 1973, when she ruled the boxoffice, to become wife to Amitabh Bachchan and subsequently mother to Shweta and Abhishek.
“Everyone saw it as a big sacrifice and painted me as Mother India. But the fact is, I did what I wanted to. There was no martryrdom involved because I’m not that kind of a person. No one can make me do what I don’t want to.”
That this woman of substance won’t do something only because it’s expected of her, goes without saying. Jaya is a woman of steel in the truest sense of the word. In spite of being the first lady of filmdom with the accompanying baggage of obligations and responsibilities, she’s as real and rooted to the ground as anyone can get.
You won’t find her saying or doing anything she doesn’t believe in. Nor will you come across anyone who can accuse her of being unfair. Frank, sometimes brutally so, she calls a spade a spade. How often has she pulled me up for my personality-oriented page-3 writing?! “You aren’t meant to do these things. We need serious writers who can put our cinema into a perspective. We’ve enough peeping-tom journalists writing about which star sneezed at which party.”
In fact Jaya, in all her candid objectivity, believes I write too much about her husband.
I agree. When I see her give a performance like the one in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa or the earlier ones in Doosri Sita, Uphaar, Annadata, Koshish, Kora Kagaz and Mili I feel film history has been extremely unfair to Jaya Bachchan. You really can’t blame me entirely for the scarcity of writings on this formidable actress. She doesn’t allow me to write about her, unless I throw a major tantrum and threaten to go on a hunger strike in front of her beautifully kept residence Jalsa in Juhu, Mumbai.
Let’s not forget , this pioneering performer heralded naturalistic acting into mainstream Hindi cinema. Before her there was Nutan , and after her there are Samita Patil and Shabana Azmi. But Jaya occupies a unique position. When she came into the movies with her two back-to-back performances in Guddi and Uphaar in 1971, Jaya’s complete denial of ‘filmy’ glamour became a trend-setting phenomenon .
While we tend to think of Jaya Bhaduri as the actress in a crumpled cotton sari and loose hair playing authentic middle-class characters in middle-of-the-road movies by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Gulzar and Anil Ganguly, she in fact, created a fashion statement. In 1972-73 her hairstyle and specially-designed blouses with puffed sleeves , became a rage among women in the country. Jaya was a fashion icon.
“Oh I thought other actresses were fashion icons. I was just…Jaya”, she laughs uproariously. “I just wore and did what seemed right for me. To me the thought of doing anything that doesn’t come naturally to me seems unacceptable. That applies to both my personal and professional dealings.”
The daughter of a crusader and pioneering journalist Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, I’m proud to say she’s my closest friend among the Bachchans and perhaps the most shortchanged in terms of career and recognition. Everyone seems to think Amitabh Bachchan is the mega-star of the family. To me Jaya is the tallest Bachchan. You have to see the well-oiled running of her impeccable household, and how cool she remains in spite of work-related and personal guests swarming her residence, to realize how tall her presence looms over her distinguished family.
Everyone sees Abhishek as his father’s son, when in fact he has more of his mother than his father in him. The smile and those eyes…. They’ve been bequeathed to the Bachchan heir from his illustrious mother who at one point in the history of cinema was so huge, she could shoulder the then-struggling Amitabh Bcahchan’s endeavour to become a star.
So far she has been seen with her son only once in a Bengali film called Des where she played a social crusader who’s about to bw whisked out of the country by her NRI son. Abhishek played the son.
I don’t think Jaya is comfortable with the idea of playing her own son’s mother on screen. It’s hard for her to play a role that she has perfected in real life. It’s even harder for her to trifle with truth. So many struggling directors have been told bluntly that they need to improve their act. Her husband would never take upon himself to assess people. He would simply turn away with a smile. Jaya can’t do that. She confronts people situations and crises headlong, gets to the bottom of the problem and then moves on.
Zanjeer wouldn’t have happened to her husband if Jaya hadn’t agreed to play the relatively short role opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Many leading heroines including Mumtaz had said no. Jaya sportingly stepped in at the eleventh hour, adding great star value to the film… the rest is too well known to be repeated.
What needs reiteration is the intense success-streak that she enjoyed fromn1971 to 1973 , right up to Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan, Mili and Chupke Chupke , all three with her husband, before she called it quits. Virtually every film that she consented to do made money at the boxoffice. For a while it seemed there was no other leading lady except Hema Malini to challenge Jaya’s rein at the top.
“I never thought of all that. I just did the quality and quantity of work that suited me. Then I moved on to look after my home and family. Today when the two boys in my life don’t need my presence that compulsively I ‘ve taken on the responsibility of being a Rajya Sabha member. That’s so no selfindulgence for me. I take my job as parliamentarian very seriously.”
And films? “Where are the roles? Show me challenging roles for an actress my age , and I am game, as I was for Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa or even Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kal Ho Na Ho where I didn’t have much to do in terms of footage. But at least there was space for me to breathe in the script.”
Then she looks dreamily out of the window, probably thinking of the dinner guests that night. Or maybe just wondering if playing mom to Bollywood ’s new candidate for no.1 is easier than playing Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa.
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Jamuna Had A Love-Hate Relationship With Bollywood

Veteran Telugu actress Jamuna who passed away on Friday, shared an uneasy relationship with the Hindi film industry.She did eleven Hindi films including the iconic Milan in 1967 where Jamuna agreed to play the second lead, or the supporting role if you will, to Nutan.
Jamuna as Gauri was the Other Woman who craved for the hero Sunil Dutt’s attention whereas he had eyes and devotion only for Nutan. In later years Aruna Irani played a similar role in Caravan.
In Milan Jamuna was not keen to do a supporting role. Producer L V Prasad tempted her with three chartbusting songs. Besides, Jamuna had played the same role in Mooga Manasulu, the Telugu original of Milan. But it was the songs composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal which convinced Jamuna to take up the second lead in Milan.
While Nutan had no solo songs in Milan, she did have the chartbuster duet Sawan ka mahina . Jamuna on the other hand, had two splendid Lata Mangeshkar solos: Tohey saawariya naahin khabariya and the magnificent Ghazal Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin.Not only these, Jamuna also had a hit duet with Mukesh based on her character Gauri: Bol Gauri bol tera kaun piya.
But then, fate intervened. After the film released one of Jamuna’s solos, the poignant and memorable Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin was snipped out of the film.
Here is what happened: the Ghazal , one of Lataji’s all-time greats, was very much a part of Milan when it released on 17 March 1967. But then it was seen to hamper the flow of the film and edited out. The beautiful song occurred right after intermission. Producer Prasad, a shrewd filmmaker, got to know that audiences prolonged their loo breaks as there was a song after the break. Hence the sacrifice of a seriously sonorous melody.
Jamuna hardly did Hindi films after Milan. Her last Bollywood appearance was in Raj Kumar Kohli’s Raj Tilak where she was lost in a multistarrer as the royal queen.
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Karan Johar Moves Alia Song From Switzerland To Kashmir

The romantic duet in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani which was to be shot in Switzerland and which was delayed due to the film’s leading lady Alia Bhatt’s motherhood, is now being relocated to Kashmir.
Purely out of the love for new mom Alia.
Says a source in the know, “Karan loves Alia like his own daughter. He would do anything for her. He postponed the release of Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani as the love duet could not be shot before Alia’s maternity leave. Karan had decided to shoot the song in Switzerland after Alia’s maternity love. But now he has relocated the song to Kashmir as Alia doesn’t want to leave her baby girl behind for long stretches.”
And as Karan Johar argued, snow is snow. How does it matter whether it is Switzerland or Kashmir?
This song would be Karan Johar’s tribute to his idol Yash Chopra. Alia would be dressed in chiffon sarees while Ranveer, for a change, would be seen in formals.
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Bobby Deol’s Switchover To Villainous Roles

After Prakash Jha’s webseries Ashram where Bobby played a sleazy godman, and Love Hostel where he was a ruthless assassin, he is playing the villain to Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Vanga’s Animal.
Bobby says it is not conscious career decision to play negative characters but a conscious decision to play interesting characters. “ I don’t look at characters as positive or negative.When I watch films there is always one character that stays with you. I want to play that character.”
Prakash Jha’s Ashram proved a gamechanger for Bobby. He admits finding challenging roles is tough. “I am trying. I am doing Sandeep Vanga’s Animal with Ranbir Kapoor , Parineeti Chopra. Then I am doing the family film Apne 2 which I am very excited about.”
In an earlier interview with this writer Bobby spoke about his long absence from screen before Prakash Jha’s Ashram. “My fans would ask why I wasn’t being seen on the screen.And I couldn’t tell them it was because I wasn’t getting good roles. But my fans stood by me. They gave me the strength to keep looking for the right roles. Thankfully I found the roles I liked. My new films have given me some new fans. I am thankful I am still here. Yeah , I am in a good space right now.”
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Pathaan Collects 55 crore nett in India On Day 1

YRF’s Pathaan has apparently wiped out all previous records as it collected 55 crore nett in India and recorded the biggest ever Day 1 for a Hindi film. The total collections of Pathaan on Day One is 57 crore nett (Hindi – 55 crore and dubbed versions 2 crore).
It is the widest Hindi release of all time in India and also the highest grossing 1st Day for a Hindi film.It is also the highest grosser on the first first for a non-holiday release. Pathhan is also the highest opener for Shah Rukh Khan.
Akshaye Widhani, CEO of Yash Raj Films, says, “It is a historic day for Indian cinema and we are humbled to see the love and appreciation that is flowing for Pathaan globally. For Pathaan to shatter records in this fashion on a non holiday, just proves that the theatrical business is here to stay, provided we make films that entice people to come to the cinemas to witness a never seen before experience that entertains them thoroughly.“
He adds, “We, at YRF, are thrilled with the start that the film has got across India and we are hopeful that Pathaan brings joy to cine-goers globally in the days to come! Pathaan is the fourth film of our YRF Spy Universe and we are thrilled that we have been able to elevate the cinematic experience of audiences with each film from this franchise. We humbly share this moment with all the stake-holders of the film who have given their blood, sweat and tears to give people a movie-going experience like never before.”
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