Jaya Bachchan has given more stellar performances than Amitabh Bachchan, but he is the tree who casts a shadow over the family | Bollywood News

A few months ago, when Jaya Bachchan was addressed as Jaya Amitabh Bachchan during a Rajya Sabha session, it ignited a heated debate. Jaya said that while she was extremely proud of her husband and his achievements, she found this address extremely patriarchal. The debate started because a few days before this exchange, Jaya had brought up the fact that the society likes to recognise a woman her husband’s name, as if “they have no exence or achievements of their own.” Jaya is not that woman. Of course, she is married to Amitabh Bachchan, who is often regarded as one of the best actors of Indian cinema of all time, and some might even say that his achievements have overshadowed everything that the Bachchan family might do for the many generations to come. But, that doesn’t take away from the fact that in some ways, Jaya is ahead of him when it comes to choosing films that are arguably better.Jaya is one of those rare, gifted actors whose artry was first spotted the great Satyajit Ray himself in Mahanagar. All of 14, she acted opposite Madhabi Mukherjee and Anil Chatterjee in the film that remains one of the greatest works of the thespian. Her undeniable talent brought her to pursue the acting course at FTII in the 1960s and soon afterwards, she was the talent to watch out for. She wasn’t the glamorous heroine who decorated a frame like a flower pot in male dominated films, but in fact, she was the actor who often had the meatiest part in a film. Whether it was starring in eponymous films such as Guddi and Mili, to playing women who stood up for themselves in films such as Piya Ka Ghar and Uphaar to sensitive portrayals like Abhimaan and Koshish.
Even when Amitabh was trying to make it big in the movies, Jaya was the next big actor to watch out for. Much like Irrfan, she wasn’t the actor whose performance was dependent on her director, co-stars or her surroundings, she did a stellar job nevertheless. If she signed up for a role, one could expect that the film wouldn’t be a disappointment, which, one cannot say for Amitabh’s choices.
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Jeetendra and Jaya Bachchan in Gulzar’s 1972 film Parichay.
It would be unfair to compare the talent of actors like Jaya and Amitabh, but there is one thing which places Jaya ahead of Amitabh — she has never given a mediocre performance in any film she has chosen to do. A large part of her filmography, the likes of Guddi, Mili, Parichay, Kora Kagaz, stands the test of time and the few films that don’t, still have her giving a near-flawless performance. It is important to remember here that the success of any film cannot be measured its popularity or box office success at that time, but how it has aged and continued to entertained the audience even decades of its original release.
It would be unfair to compare the talent of actors like Jaya and Amitabh, but there is one thing which places Jaya ahead of Amitabh — she has never given a mediocre performance in any film she has chosen to do. Of course, she has also appeared in films which can’t be labeled as good, like Jawani Diwani, Samadhi, Gaai Aur Gori among a few others, but even in these films, Jaya does not lose her grip. Like in Jawani Diwani, she is introduced as a college-going woman who walks around with a doll in her hand but Jaya can’t get herself to infantilise the character in her day-to-day behaviour. Instead, she chooses to retain her childlike innocence just so she can justify the doll. Or in a film like Samadhi, a father-son bandit drama, where she is seen romancing Dharmendra in a double-role, you wonder if she was cast just to legitimise a truly over-the-top premise that could have exed only in the 1970s. Much like how Irrfan Khan was great even in an Anees Bazmee film, Jaya was great in everything she appeared in. But the same can’t be said for Amitabh as he has had his bad luck with films like Insaniyat, Lal Baadshah, Kohram, Boom, Nishabd, RGV Ki Aag, and a few other that he did during his low phase.
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Jaya Bachchan and Anil Dhawan in Basu Chatterjee’s 1972 film Piya Ka Ghar.
Unlike other members of her family, Jaya’s reputation as an actor was well known in the film industry even before she made her debut in the movies. She had just finished her course at FTII when she landed Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Guddi and soon after, she appeared in some of the best films of the time. It is well known that Salim-Javed had to convince Jaya to take up a smaller part in Zanjeer just so they could convince Prakash Mehra to make the film with Amitabh, who was yet to prove his mettle. It was almost as if her star power could build some trust in the film before the audience gave a chance to Amitabh. Of course, one can argue that Amitabh has worked in a lot more movies, and the more one tries, the bigger the probability of them failing, but this still doesn’t take away from Jaya’s wise choices across her career.Story continues below this ad
Jaya playing the cursed newlywed
At a time when most Hindi films had a ‘happy ending’ where the man and woman get married, Jaya did a series of roles where she explored what happens after the so-called ‘happy ending’. In many films during this time, she chose to play a newly wed who is pushed into an alien world where is she expected to be fluent in a language that she is just starting to learn.
In Uphaar, she plays a carefree woman who is too young to understand the idea of marriage. In a scene in the film, her character just walks out of her sasural because she wants to meet her father. The father lives in a different village and she has no idea how to get there. After walking around for hours, she gets tired and sleeps on the side of the pavement. This girl could have come across as irresponsible and careless but Jaya ensures that her childlike innocence comes across and you feel sympathetic towards her.
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Jaya Bachchan in Sudhendu Roy’s 1971 film Uphaar.
In Piya Ka Ghar, her character is expected to live within a seven person household in a house that’s barely big enough for four. The lack of privacy and the absence of any space for intimacy drives her to put her foot down and demand a better life, or at least the acknowledgement that what she’s asking for isn’t unreasonable. What could have come across as vamp-like in Ekta Kapoor’s world, Jaya ensures it looks like standing up for yourself and your desires.Story continues below this ad
In Abhimaan, she is expected to be the subservient wife who should be proud of her talent, but never dream of overshadowing her husband, played Amitabh Bachchan. The moment her natural talent shines through, all hell breaks loose. Jaya could have played her character like a pushover who acts like a fly on the wall but she chooses to play it as a woman who knows her worth, and is shocked to find out that her husband wallows in self-pity instead of having a mature conversation.
Jaya Bachchan in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1973 film Abhimaan.
Jaya playing the mother who has lost
After a relatively short first innings, Jaya returned to the screen in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And in this phase of her career, she frequently revisited the character of the ‘filmy maa’ but every single time she picked up a version of this character, she chose to hold on to a different facet of the said maa’s personality. Like in Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Jaya played a mother who is trying to get to know her dead son as she is struggling to piece together his life. Every new thing that she learns about him comes as a shock to her but Jaya doesn’t play it with an air of unbelievability or shock, but rather she presents her as someone who is curious to find out about the life he left behind.
In Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Jaya played a self sacrificing mother who laments for her son and doesn’t stand up for herself until the very end. In a significant scene in the film, when Jaya reunites with Shah Rukh Khan’s character at a mall in London, she breaks down in a way that the viewer immediately knows that this time, she won’t let him go. So when she ultimately stands up for herself against her husband, you believe her, because her transformation has been in the making for a few scenes. Or even in Kal Ho Naa Ho, where she plays a single mother who is one holding her family together, she plays an overworked woman who is spread too thin in a fashion that you want her family to thank her for everything that she has been doing for them.
Jaya Bachchan in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa.
Jaya chose to follow the path of public service instead of being a full time actor even after she rejoined films as couple of decades ago. But if she were to do more films, it would definitely be a treat for her fans across the globe.