Jaya Bachchan

Jaya Bhaduri was born in a Bengali family on 9 April 1948.^[6] She is the daughter of Tarun Kumar Bhaduri, a journalist, author, and poet and his wife, Indira. She studied at St Joseph's Convent School, Bhopal and graduated from Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.^[7]

Bachchan first starred in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film, Mahanagar (1963) at the age of 14, with Anil Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee. She then appeared in two more Bengali films: a 13-minute short Suman,^[8] and the comedy Dhanyee Meye (1971), where she played the role of Uttam Kumar's sister-in-law.^[9]

Inspired by her experience with Ray, she joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune and graduated with a gold medal.^[10] Hrishikesh Mukherjee cast her in Guddi (1971), to play the eponymous role of a petite school-girl obsessed with film star Dharmendra.^[11] Guddi was a commercial success,^[9] and created the girl-next-door image for her, which she was often associated with through the rest of her career. While she did venture out to play glamorous roles as in Jawani Diwani, (1972)^[3] and a semi-negative character of an amnesia-faking heroine in Anamika (1973), she was most recognised for her roles epitomising middle-class sensibility, which she played amiably in films of "middle-cinema" directors such as Gulzar, Basu Chatterjee and Mukherjee.^[12] These films include Uphaar (1971), Piya Ka Ghar (1972), Parichay (1972), Koshish (1972) and Bawarchi (1972).^[11][13] They also made her a superstar.^[9]

In Gulzar's Koshish, Bhaduri and Sanjeev Kumar played a deaf couple who struggle through their difficulties as disabled people. She described the film as "a learning experience" which motivated her to do social work in future.^[14]

She first acted with Amitabh Bachchan in Bansi Birju (1972), followed by B. R. Ishara's Ek Nazar also in the same year.^[9] When Amitabh had faced a string of flops and most lead heroines refused to work with him in the Salim–Javed scripted Zanjeer (1973), she agreed to step in. The film turned out to be a big hit creating Bachchan's angry-young-man image.^[15] All their successive films as a pair were huge hits – Abhimaan (1973), Chupke Chupke (1975), Mili (1975) and Sholay (1975).

Her daughter Shweta was born around the time Jaya and Amitabh were working on Sholay. Following this, she retired from films and focused on raising her children, making an exception for Yash Chopra's Silsila (1981), once again opposite her husband. During the late 1980s, she wrote the story for Shahenshah (1988), which starred her husband in the lead.

Jaya married actor Amitabh Bachchan, on 3 June 1973.^[23] The couple has two children: Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, who is also an actor. Shweta is married to industrialist Nikhil Nanda, grandson of Raj Kapoor, and has two children, Navya Naveli Nanda and Agastya Nanda,^[24] while Abhishek is married to actress and Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai with whom he has a daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan.^[25]

Bachchan was first elected in 2004 as the Member of Parliament from the Samajwadi Party, representing Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha till March 2006.^[28] She was disqualified in 2006 for holding an office of profit.^[29][30] Subsequently, she got a second term from June 2006^[31] till July 2010 and in February 2010 she stated her intent to complete her term.^{[32][clarification needed]} She was re-elected in 2012 for the third term and again in 2018 for her fourth term in the Rajya Sabha from Samajwadi Party. Also, she campaigned for All India Trinamool Congress during 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

Bachchan is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema.^[35] One of the highest paid actress of the 1970s, in 2022, she was placed in Outlook India's "75 Best Bollywood Actresses" list.^[36] Filmfare included Bachchan's performances in Abhimaan in its Bollywood's "80 Iconic Performances" list.^[37]

Writing for Times of India, Subhash K. Jha termed her an "exceptional talent" and noted, "During her brief innings of superstardom she was a far bigger star than her husband."^[38] Samriddhi Patwa of Filmfare noted, "The Bengali actress who had long hair, a sweet smile, and significant roles conquered the silver screen."^[39] Dinesh Raheja of Rediff.com termed her an "outspoken actress" and noted, "Diminutive she may be, but Jaya Bhaduri has managed to cast a long shadow over the world of Hindi films."^[40] Indian Express said that her filmography is "full of gems" and added, "The Bengali beauty ruled the silver screen with meaningful roles."^[41] Kanika Katyal of Firstpost noted, "Full of vigour and idealism, Jaya found herself at home in the "middle cinema" of the 1970s", and added, "Each time she emoted, the camera was firmly in her grip."^[42]

• Banerjee, Shampa; Anil Srivastava (1988). One Hundred Indian Feature Films: An Annotated Filmography. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8240-9483-2.
• Gulzar, S.G.; Govind Nihalani, Saibal Chatterjee (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema. Popular Prakashan, Encyclopædia Britannica (India). ISBN 81-7991-066-0.
• Dawar, Ramesh (2006). Bollywood Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow. Star Publications. ISBN 1-905863-01-2.
• Peter John, Ali. "Jaya is aback, Jaya Hey!". Screen India. Express India. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2011.