A brief history of Jaya Bachchan and her ‘gutsy’ statements

B for Bachchan, B for Blunt

In Jaya Bachchan, Kangana may have met her match. Mrs Bachchan is known for being blunt, a stark opposite of husband Amitabh Bachchan’s dignified diplomacy and play-safe approach to everything, especially politics. Jaya’s defence of her industry should not surprise anyone. Neither this is the first time she has spoken her mind. In December last year, in response to the gang-rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, she suggested “public lynching.” In her Rajya Sabha speech, she raised concerns about women’s safety and crimes against women urging the Modi government to give “a proper and a very definite answer.” In 2012, she broke down in Parliament protesting the Nirbhaya case. “I am very worried about the parents of this girl. Everybody will forget but she will remember for the rest of her life. It will be a scar and a terrible mental torture more than phyisical,” she said at the time.

In Jaya Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut may have met her match. (Express Photo by Renuka Puri)

While Amitabh Bachchan has been famously guarded about his difficult relationship with Congress, Jaya Bachchan, on the other hand, was not afraid to express her displeasure at the grand old party to NDTV in 2010, “Congress has not been fair with me.” Contrary to her husband, who may have severed all ties with Congress but claims to have friends across the political spectrum (he even shares good rapport with PM Narendra Modi), Jaya belongs to Samajwadi Party’s socialist ideology after having made her political debut with them in 2004. Currently, she’s in her fourth term. In an industry that’s wary of politics, the 72-year-old veteran is the rare film star who has made a success out of her Parliamentary career. This places her in the same category as other successful stars-turned-politicians like Hema Malini, Jaya Prada, Smriti Irani, Shatrughan Sinha (whose wife Poonam contested from the rival Samajwadi Party in 2019) and the late Vinod Khanna.

Reportedly, it was the powerful duo Mulayam Singh Yadav and the late Amar Singh who drafted Jaya Bachchan into politics after Big B had sworn off ‘rajniti’ following the Bofors fiasco. Talking about her political role, she told author-journalist Bhawana Somaaya in 2017, “I like visiting the parliament, listening to the discussions and raising questions. It’s a stimulating environment and it opens your world view. I’m fortunate to have a home in both Mumbai and Delhi, and to be a part of cinema and the political world. Both are different and engaging.”

Run-in with paps

In the same interview, she calls herself “a free bird, too independent to be tied down.” That kind of frank talk explains why Jaya Bachchan is popular in the press. But at times, her strong personality coupled with her feisty attitude and candid demeanour have made her an “angry woman,” a sobriquet that once sat well on her superstar spouse. Paps often report of her “losing her calm,” whether slamming the media for addressing daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai as “Ash” (“Is she your classmate?”) or replying with an acerbic, “I am not a spokesperson for my family” when asked about her husband. On occasions, her honesty has cost her dear friendships. Even her own children are not immune to her attacks. Case in point: the time she dismissed son Abhishek’s Happy New Year (2014) as “nonsensical”, a statement that had reportedly caused a rift with Shah Rukh Khan.

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For doyenne Bachchan who came of age in the meaningful era of Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Guddi was her breakthrough), Satyajit Ray (she made her teenage debut with Mahanagar in 1963) and Gulzar (Koshish) and someone whose acting credentials were evident thanks to her stint at the prestigious FTII, lightweights like Happy New Year will definitely not make the cut. She quit a legendary career to start a family (she agreed to work with Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer when he was a nobody while she was a bona fide star) and even while remaining in Big B’s shadow over the decades, she has managed to create her own niche, first as an actor and later as politician. Kangana Ranaut’s admirers delight in calling her ‘gutsy.’ But ‘gutsy’ is a tag that Jaya Bachchan wears lightly, something that the younger actress would do well to learn.