Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan tied the knot in 1973, after a courtship that lasted a couple of years. Their decision to tie the knot, according to Jaya’s father, journalist Taroon Coomar Bhadhuri, ‘was a bolt from the blue’. In an article written for the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1989, Jaya’s father wrote about her marriage to Amitabh, and dismissed the rumours that were thrown around at the time about him being against the union. He also denied the speculation that Amitabh belonging to a different caste caused any concern, and described his family as liberal.
In the article, Jaya’s father wrote that he admired Amitabh’s tenacity, and was sure that his daughter wouldn’t fall for an ordinary man. “I felt he was not the run-of-the-mill Bombay film star. There were vicious people who said that Amitabh married Jaya because she was a big star, but it’s totally untrue. He waited for Zanjeer to be a success. But Jaya would have married him anyway. I know that for certain. She is not a fickle-minded person. She is a very determined individual, bent on having her way since childhood. It is difficult for me to say what drew them together,” he wrote.
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Amitabh phoned Jaya’s mother up and informed her of the marriage, and urgently summoned them to Mumbai. “And presto, we were in Bombay the next day to make arrangements for a ‘secret marriage’ on June 3, 1973. There is no point now in going into the details of how the whole affair was kept secret and the marriage arranged in the flat of friends of our family, the Pandits, at Malabar Hill. But there is something more to it,” Jaya’s father wrote.
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan got married in June, 1973. (Express archive photo)
It all happened very quickly, and there was some difficulty in locating a Bengali priest to oversee the rituals. Jaya’s father wrote that he’s an atheist, but her mother wanted ‘a proper Bengali marriage’. “A Bengali marriage is usually a long-drawn-out but a highly interesting affair. The Bengali priest (who was located with great difficulty) at first protested against having to preside over a marriage between a Bengali brahmin (Jaya) and a non-Bengali non-brahmin (Amit). After a lot of hassles, this was sorted out. Amit went through all the rituals, offending no one, and the ceremony went on until early the next morning. He did with sincerity all he was told to do. The following day, they flew to London. On their return, I held a reception at Bhopal and again Amit did whatever he was told to do,” Jaya’s father wrote.
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In the hit chat show of the 90s, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya talked about the time when they first met each other. (Photo: Express Archive)
He then addressed the rumours that he was unhappy about the union, and described this speculation as ‘slander, plain and simple’. He wrote, “I would like to know just one good reason why my wife or I would have been opposed to the Bhaduri-Bachchan alliance. Amitabh was, and is, a lovable boy. He struggled hard to come up in the world of films. Initial failures did not deter him, and with a teutonic doggedness, he pursued his career. He proposed marriage to Jaya only when the film Zanjeer clicked and he has not looked back since. So, what reservations could we have? That he was not a Bengali and was a non-brahmin? How ridiculous! Another daughter of mine too is married to a non-brahmin, and if it is any consolation to my detractors, my second daughter is married to a Roman Catholic. Apart from my wife and I, my elderly parents, too, not only joined in the marriage celebrations but blessed all the three couples and this, in view of scores of invitees. And my father was a very proud brahmin. His words still ring in my ears: ‘It is their life. Who are we to throw a spanner in the works? If they are happy, so should we be’.”
Jaya and Amitabh have been married for over five decades, and have two children – daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda, and son Abhishek Bachchan. They also have three grandchildren – Agastya Nanda, Navya Naveli Nanda, and Aaradhya Bachchan.
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