Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's Love Story: Celebrating Their Anniversary

The more I think about Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, the more I think that their relationship of 53 years (they got married on 3 June 1973) is like a fairy tale, which has never been told or written before

It was a very powerful 70s decade

When Jaya Bhaduri, daughter of the famous writer and journalist Tarun Kumar Bhaduri, was a student at FTII. It was around this time that a tall young man, who no one could have imagined could be an actor in Hindi films but had the self-confidence to make himself one, made his debut in 'Saat Hindustani' after being discovered by K. A. Abbas. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, was a very close friend of his mother Mrs. Teji Bachchan, whose husband, the great Hindi poet, Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was one of the best friends and cultural advisors of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

It was soon after 'Saat Hindustani' that the budding actor Amitabh felt like going to FTII where he befriended Danny Dangjonpa, Ramesh Sharma and Jaya Bhaduri who formed a team of friends pursuing their goal to make it in the film industry. It is said that during these visits of Amitabh to FTII, Jaya who was also from FTII had a feeling in her heart that this tall man was the prince of her dreams and he was the man she wanted to marry. Amitabh signed other films like 'Anand', 'Parwana' (as a villain) and 'Bombay to Goa'. Jaya signed films like 'Guddi' and 'Piya Ka Ghar' and became a famous actress. Amitabh kept visiting his other friends like Asrani and Tinnu Anand who lived in a beach apartment in Juhu and with their permission he would visit the different studios where they used to shoot and these meetings brought Amitabh and Jaya closer and the relationship became better when they worked together in films like 'Bansi Birju' and 'Ek Nazar' which were good films but failed to make an impact with the new team of actors, Amitabh and Jaya.

She had a few more films lined up which did not do well due to her previous films, Amitabh kept struggling while Jaya kept signing bigger and better films. She signed Prakash Mehra's 'Zanjeer'. Mehra had serious problems with the casting of the hero for the film. The big heroes turned down the film for their own reasons, those who refused the role of Inspector Vijay in 'Zanjeer' were Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Raj Kumar.

It was Mehra's friends, veteran actors Om Prakash and Pran who had seen Amitabh's work in films like 'Parwana' and 'Bombay to Goa'. They had asked Mehra to cast him for the role in 'Zanjeer'. Mehra asked his writers' team, Salim-Javed, to see the 'tall actor' and they only saw the action scenes he had done in 'Bombay to Goa' and recommended the 'tall actor' for 'Zanjeer'. Mehra had decided to cast Jaya as his heroine and she agreed. The shooting of 'Zanjeer' was completed, Mehra found it difficult to find distributors, he somehow found them, 'Zanjeer' was released as a B-grade action film, on the day of release at twelve noon Amitabh Bachchan was nothing and at three in the afternoon he was a star and at six in the evening people had taken Amitabh Bachchan as the next superstar replacing Rajesh Khanna and now nobody could stop him. Amitabh was so happy with this success after giving more than a dozen flops that he promised his close friends that he would host a holiday for them in London (Amitabh had never been to London before). Among the friends he invited was Jaya, who was no longer just a close friend or colleague but had fallen in love with her dream boy and had even planned to marry him.

Amitabh's father had found out about his son and Jaya dating and when he found out that they were going on a vacation, he called Amitabh to his room and told him that he would not let him go on vacation with Jaya unless the two got married. It was a moment of ecstasy and panic. The house of one of Jaya's friends in Malabar Hills was chosen as the venue. A pandit was arranged, friends of both Jaya and Amitabh included Sanjay Gandhi who was in the news those days because of all the situations he was creating in the country that eventually led to the Emergency. Amitabh and Jaya got married on the evening of 3 June 1973 and the next day the group of friends took a flight to London for Amitabh and Jaya's honeymoon. It was an unusual situation, but life has always been a series of unusual situations for Amitabh and Jaya. Amitabh and Jaya played husband and wife for the second time in the film 'Abhimaan' after which Jaya quit working in films and concentrated on settling the Bachchan family which included a son, Abhishek and a daughter, Shweta and thus continued the story of 'Pari'.

He is 78 as I write this fairy tale of his, Amitabh's journey is still continuing, which reminds me of a statement he made more than 35 years ago in which he said that he will work till he is eighty and even if he is asked to shoot for a party scene or a crowd scene. Jaya is busy with her work as a Member of Parliament representing the Samajwadi Party in the Rajya Sabha. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya are living a very happy life together with their daughter Aaradhya and Shweta Nanda and Nikhil Nanda have a daughter Navya Naveli, who is a reason for this fairy tale to continue, and maybe she will also make her debut in films.

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