At 65, Jaya Bachchan comfortable playing different roles

Veteran actress and Indian Parliament member Jaya Bachchan, who turns 65 on Tuesday, says her role as a mother matters more to her than anything else. She also admits that she takes her duty as a parliamentarian seriously and that she is still game for movie roles, provided they are “challenging”.

She gave up superstardom in 1973, when she ruled the box-office, to become wife to Amitabh Bachchan and subsequently mother to Shweta and Abhishek.

“Everyone saw it as a big sacrifice and painted me as mother India. But the fact is, I did what I wanted to. There was no martryrdom involved because I am not that kind of a person. No one can make me do what I don't want to,” she said.

The actress heralded naturalistic acting into mainstream Hindi cinema. Before her, there was Nutan, and after her there are Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi.

But Bachchan occupies a unique position. When she came into the movies with two back-to-back performances in “Guddi” and “Uphaar” in 1971, Bachchan’s complete denial of glamour became a trend-setting phenomenon.

However, in 1972-73, her hairstyle and specially-designed blouses with puffed sleeves, became a rage among women in the country. Bachchan became a fashion icon.

“Oh, I thought other actresses were fashion icons. I was just Jaya,” said Bachchan.

“I just wore and did what seemed right for me. To me, the thought of doing anything that doesn't come naturally to me, seems unacceptable,” she said.

Everyone sees Abhishek as his father's son when, in fact, he has more of his mother than his father in him. The smile and those eyes — they have been bequeathed to the Bachchan heir by his illustrious mother, who at one point in the history of Indian cinema was one of its biggest stars.

So far, she has been seen with her son only once in the Bengali film “Des”, where she played a social crusader who is about to be whisked out of the country by her NRI son. Abhishek played the son.

What needs reiteration is the intense success-streak that she enjoyed from 1971 to 1973, right up to Hrishikesh Mukherjee's “Abhimaan”, “Mili” and “Chupke Chupke” — all three with her husband— before she called it quits.

Virtually every film that she consented to do did well at the box office. For a while it seemed there was no other leading lady except Hema Malini to challenge Bachchan’s reign at the top.

“I never thought of all that. I just did the quality and quantity of work that suited me. Then I moved on to look after my home and family. Today when the two boys in my life [Amitabh and Abhishek] don't need my presence, compulsively I have taken on the responsibility of being a parliament member. That's so no self-indulgence for me. I take my job as parliamentarian very seriously,” she said.

And films?

“Where are the roles? Show me challenging roles for an actress my age and I am game, as I was for 'Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa' or even 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' and 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', where I didn't have much to do in terms of footage. But at least there was space for me to breathe in the script,” she said.