JAYA BACHCHAN

Jaya is aback, Jaya Hey!
I don’t know how young or how old I was those days but I remember it was a time when an actress called Jaya Bhaduri came in from the Film And Television Institute of India and knocked me and my entire generation out. She was hardly five feet tall but she had the talent that could take on challenges even by the mighty heroes and conquer them. Her first conquest — Guddi — directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It was the kind of film and she was the kind of heroine we had never seen before. I became an instant and crazy fan. She gave me all the reasons to take such a step. I didn’t know where Juhu was then. I found out. I didn’t know where Beach House was, an apartment in which Jaya had neighbours like Rekha, Asrani, the late writer Inder Raj Anand and his sons Tinnu and Bittu Anand. Everytime I had some money I travelled to Juhu and reached Beach House to catch a glimpse of the Guddi who had forced me to forget all the other actresses of the time. The day I succeeded in seeing her, even a fleeting glimpse, it was Idd,Diwalii and Christmas all combined for me. I celebrated with six cups of boiled and re-re boiled tea among friends. I wrote poems about her which I didn’t show anyone but read when I was all alone, read again and again. I remember they were not the crazy rantings of a fan. They were not love poems. They were poems packed with admiration for amazing talent. I saw Guddi twelve times and each time wrote a new poem all in praise of Jaya’s outstanding talent, the kind of talent that came in like a perfumed whiff of fresh air.

I went one step ahead. We had a very angry weekly magazine in which we raved, revolted, raised slogans of change, threatened to bring down the university building and tear down every outdated system. There was no place for films in a magazine which was so serious. I however threatened my then editor to fling my resignation in his face if he didn’t allow me (as the assistant editor) atleast some space to write about this actress who was several cuts above all the other actresses of the new generation. “Only once,” he finally declared at an editorial meeting which was growing more and more controversial. I sat through the night and wrote all that I could think and feel about Jaya Bhaduri the actress and it was published and was appreciated. And readers wanted the editor to ask me to write more about Jaya Bhaduri. I would have but unfortunately in the same issue I also wrote a limerick about the then vice chancellor of Bombay University. His name was TK Tope and I only remember the last two lines in which I wrote “And we only hope, Tope is not a dope”. Tope read it and banned our angry magazine without a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t want our magazine to be seen anywhere in any college in Bombay. How could I dare call the learned VC ‘Tope’, a ‘dope’. I never felt sorry for the magazine. I felt sorry because I could not write about Jaya Bhaduri and her extraordinary talent.

Jaya Bhaduri grew in stature with every film. She was soon ranked among some of the best actresses of the Indian screen, an actress who had made a niche of her own, a niche to respect. Somewhere along the line of life she met a struggling actor called Amitabh Bachchan. He was finding offers but was loosing them too because the films he worked in flopped in a row. Jaya saw some fascinating signs of greatness in him and decided to support him. She agreed to work as his leading lady when no one else was. They did a number of films together (Ek Nazar, Bansi Birju etc) but not one of them did well till Prakash Mehra took the risk of casting Amitabh in Zanjeer after three leading stars, Dev Anand, Raaj Kumar and Dharmendra turned it down. Amitabh kicked the chair on which Pran, the don of the area, dared to sit without his permission and the entire country screamed with delight — “wah kya hero hai”. That was the beginning of a glorious chapter, the story of a struggler who rose to become a legend, a phenomenon, a colossus, a superstar who was more than just a superstar, a superstar who ousted the reigning superstar and all the other stars. It was a prediction Jaya had made when they were acting together and had also fallen in love.

The success of Abhimaan inspired them to get married and Jaya Bhaduri made the great sacrifice of giving up her career and taking her role as Mrs Bachchan very seriously. They had two children, Shweta and Abhishek. Jaya spent all her time, years, bringing up the children, even as Amitabh did three and four shifts a day and even invented new shifts to keep pace with time. He was the unquestioned superstar for almost two decades. He then took a mysterious five-year break and then made a mysterious comeback. The comeback has not been very confortable yet, the problems have piled up but the Bachchans are trying their best to bring back their glory, bring back all that was slipping out of their hands.

Time passed faster. Abhishek grew up and staked his claim for a place among the stars of the brave new generation. And the industry was only too glad to welcome Bachchan Jr with both hands. ABCL, the company Amitabh had promoted with all his ambition, with all his lofty dreams faced all kinds of trouble. Shweta got married into the Nanda family of New Delhi and the Guddi of our days was now a grandmother, free to do what she wanted.

And the only thing she ultimately wanted to do was act becasue acting was the only thing she was perfect at, the only thing what came to her naturally. She was willing to play her age and the first filmmaker to take advantage of her urge to return to work after nearly two decades was Govind Nihalani. She was game to play the mother of a hardened Naxalite, a film based on a novel by the Gyanpeeth award-winning novelist Mahasweta Devi. Jaya proved to be the perfect actress to play the role. She did her homework like she always used to. She wiped off the dust, cleaned up all the cobwebs in her mind and decided it was going to be acting, acting in good roles, meaningful roles, roles which could suit her age, her talent, her talent at her age. The actress in Jaya Bachchan was still very much alive, the critics and cinegoers said unanimously and thanked Govind for doing them a favour.

It was time for a little dilemma but when she took stock of everything about her life, she realised that this was the time, it was time to start playing a challenging second innings. She was game for any good role, great roles she could do justice to. They would help her to make a greater attempt at being good, she realised. She then remembered the late actor Shafi Inamdar. He had directed a play which was done in Marathi, Aai Retire Hot Aahe and in Gujarati as Baa Retire Thai Che. Shafi had succeeded in convincing Jaya to play the role Bhakti Barve-Inamdar, his wife, played in both the theatre versions. Shafi now wanted to make the play into a film and he was sure Jaya and no one else could play that difficult role. He would direct. Jaya loved the script in which Shafi had made some changes to do justice to her standing, her stature, her first attempt and she was game. She would play the Maa, the title role. But fate willed otherwise. What no man or woman could imagine (death) struck Shafi, a man so full of life, just in his forties, suddenly died of a massive heart attack, leaving behind just his brilliant actress wife Bhakti and a crowd of fascinating, lively, loving memories. He was a man like that, so full of so much that was loving, worth loving.

It looked like the film would never be made but Jaya wanted it to be made, somehow. She was in love with the subject. She was approached by Sanjay Garodia (he was Shafi’s secretary) to do the play in Hindi. Jaya thought over it for a while. She had never done major plays. She finally said yes. It was not an easy decision but she decided to take that one big step which was also one big risk. Ramesh Talwar, the talented director in theatre and films (Doosra Aadmi, Sawaal, Duniya, Baseraa, Zamaana and Tera Naam Mera Naam among others) was chosen to direct the play and even play Jaya’s husband. The team was ready. Jaya was more than ready. The grandmother of Navya Naveli (Shweta’s daughter) was ready to play the Maa with a difference.

The play casts the searchlight on the Indian woman, the wife, the mother, the mother-in-law, the complete woman in charge of all kinds of crises and circumstances in today’s time. Jaya got into the skin of the character after a great deal of hard work. She inspired the entire team which had newcomers, who were put at ease by her. She didn’t want the play to open in India for reasons of her own. So the play opened in America and Jaya and the team performed to packed houses in twenty-two states in America. Applause, appreciation and adulation followed Jaya wherever she performed. People who went to see the play went to see Jaya and both Jaya and the play never let them down. Show me one instance when Jaya the actress has let her audience down and I will lose anything — anything. I’d said that two decades ago. I’m saying it still. She (more than me) gives me the confidence to stand by my words.

The actress in Jaya has came alive again. There’s a new Jaya Bachchan walking around. She is now performing almost all over India, everywhere, except Mumbai. She has her reasons again but she will perform one day, because the actress is growing more confident, growing stronger, ready to face bouquets or brickbats. The play, incidentally has been booked till the end of 2000. The curtain will come down after another round of America and Canada. That’s the kind of demand Jaya has inspired.

And so, there’s a new Jaya Bachchan the actress on the move again like I said. She is out to prove a thing or two to an entire new generation — and her generation. She’s out to prove what she is capable of. She has already signed two major films — Khalid Mohammed’s, the controversial critic turned director, first film Fiza, with Karisma Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. She has also signed Vinay Shukla’s (he made Godmother with Shabana Azmi) new film which is “very very different from Godmother”. She will also do another play with Ramesh Talwar as her director, a very difficult play from the one she’s doing now. “I am being very cautious. I can’t dare make mistakes at this age, can I? All the work I’ve accepted is good work, work that is worthwhile, work on which I have to and will work hard. Amitji, Shweta, Abhishek and the family are happy with this sudden happening in my life. I will have to work doubly hard to satisfy them first and then the world,” Jaya says.

Jaya Bachchan, the grandmother’s comeback is a festival, a celebration for all those who love talent. Wake up all you people who had given up hope for talent. Jaya Bachchan is here and her being here is certainly going to make this place a better place. How about someone like Gulzar or Hrishikesh Mukherjee coming up with a script for Amitabh, Jaya and Abhishek? What a celebration of talent that will be! What a boon for all those who have lost faith in true talent, a loss which can maim society, make it a mourning ground. Grant us this boon, dear God. You will have millions of believers and non-believers on their knees in gratitude.

Ali Peter John