Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan tied the knot in 1973 in a ‘secret’ ceremony. As per Jaya’s father’s journalist Taroon Coomar Bhadhuri, while their decision was abrupt, neither family had any objection to their union. However, the Bengali priest who presided over the ceremony initially objected to the wedding due to caste differences between Amitabh and Jaya.
Taroon Coomar Bhadhuri wrote for the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1989, “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.”
Taroon wrote that Amitabh called Jaya’s mother and asked them to come to Mumbai for the wedding. He added, “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.”
However, Jaya’s mother wanted a ‘proper Bengali marriage’ and it was difficult to find a Bengali priest that soon. “A Bengali marriage is usually a long-drawn-out but 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.
He also dismissed rumours that he was against Jaya and Amitabh’s union. 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!”
He added, “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 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 Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan are one of Bollywood’s most loved couples. They have been married for more than 50 years now and have two children, Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. They also have three grandchildren – Agastya Nanda, Navya Naveli Nanda, and Aaradhya Bachchan.
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