After making her first on-screen appearance in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film Mahanagar in 1963, Jaya Bachchan made her debut as the leading actress in Guddi, her first Bollywood film. The 1971 film featured her as the eponymous school-girl obsessed with a film star Dharmendra, who played himself in the movie.
The director Hrishikesh Mukherjee had initially cast Amitabh Bachchan opposite Jaya Bachchan as her husband Navin. This was two years before their marriage in 1973 when Jaya Bachchan was Jaya Bhaduri. Amitabh had even shot for Guddi for 10 days, but then he was replaced from the film. Though he was seen making a cameo appearance in the film as Amitabh Bachchan himself along with multiple other Bollywood stars playing themselves, the role of Navin was played Samit Bhanja, a popular actor in Bengali cinema.
When Hrishikesh Mukherjee was asked why he replaced Amitabh in the 1971 film, the director revealed that he didn't want to waste him in a small role in Guddi after signing him for Anand in the role of Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee aka Babu Moshai. The filmmaker told Times Now, "When Amit was to play a small role, that of Jaya’s love interest. But when I signed him for Anand, I didn’t want to waste him in such an inconsequential role. The main role in Guddi was written for Dharmendra. Dharmendra played Dharmendra, the star. Jaya played his fan."
The Hrishikesh Mukherjee directorial became a commercial and critical success and changed the life of Jaya Bachchan. Her brilliant performance established her as one of the leading actresses in Bollywood. She was even nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Guddi, but lost out to Asha Parekh, who won the award for the musical drama Kati Patang.
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan shared the screen together for the first time in the 1972 film Bansi Birju and have since then starred together in multiple hits such as Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Mili, Zanjeer, Abhimaan, Silsila, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. The two tied the knot together in 1973 and are parents to two children, Abhishek Bachchan and Shweta Bachchan.
READ | Meet actress, whose Bollywood debut was flop, was labelled 'fat', still became superstar, is worth Rs 250 crore
The DNA app is now available for download on the Google Play Store. Please download the app and share your feedback with us.
