Happy birthday, Jaya Bachchan: Lesser-known facts about the legendary actor

Veteran actor Jaya Bachchan is one of the finest actors of all time. She made her Bollywood debut at the tender age of 15 and came to be known for her prolific acting prowess and persona. The powerhouse performer is married to megastar Amitabh Bachchan, and is a loving mother to Shweta and Abhishek Bachchan, and a loving grandmom to Aaradhya Bachchan, Navya Naveli and Agastya Nanda.

As the legendary actor-turned-politician turns a year older, let's take a look at some lesser-known facts about her...

She’s the daughter of prolific author and poet Taroon Kumar Bhaduri and was also an academically brilliant student. She is a gold medalist from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Born into a Bengali family, Jaya started her acting career with a supporting role in Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film, ‘Mahanagar’, at 15.

Jaya Bachchan met her now-husband Amitabh Bachchan for the first time on the sets of ‘Guddi’. Jaya was a superstar in the early 1970s, while Big B was a struggling actor. Not many know that she predicted that he would be a superstar even back then, and no one else agreed with her. Soon things started to fall in place, and Jaya and Amitabh became a hit pair. Together they have delivered several hit films like ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Silsila’, ‘Mili’, and ‘Sholay’.

According to a news portal, her favourite actor is Dharmendra. In fact, their first meeting was quite unusual as when Jaya had to face the He-Man of the industry for her debut film ‘Guddi’, she hid behind the sofa when he came on the sets. A few years later, she played Dharmendra’s romantic interest in a film called ‘Samadhi.’

She has starred in 47 movies and won 14 Filmfare awards--eight Best actress awards, three best-supporting actress awards, two special awards and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2007. Not only that, she has also been honoured with a Padma Shri award, by the Government of India.

Jaya Bachchan took a sabbatical from films after her wedding. She made her comeback in 1995 in a Marathi film, ‘Akka’, with her husband, Amitabh. She was then seen in a bilingual comedy thriller film written and directed by Rituparno Ghosh, titled ‘Sunglass.’ Jaya also made a cameo in the 2016 film ‘Ki & Ka' starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Arjun Kapoor.