Amitabh Bachchan has been a lot in the news lately. The most committed actor Bollywood has ever seen turned 77 a few days ago and also completed 50 years in Indian Cinema. Besides his acting and his sponsorship commitments, he continues to host Kaun Banega Crorepati on Sony TV for the 11th Year in his unique inimitable style with full energy and gusto, despite recent heath challenges which he seems to be facing. I cannot recall any other actor in the history of Bollywood who has such a clean image and who is so professionally committed. Many TV channels have been airing special programs on his 50 years completion featuring scenes and trivia from his blockbuster films way back from the 1970’s and ‘80s.
Which got me remembering my own encounter with him, before he became a super star.
The year was 1971. A new face happened upon Indian Cinema with the release of a film called Guddi. Directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, it starred a fresh graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India by name Jaya Bhaduri. Guddi was a different film and portrayed Jaya as a star struck school kid, in love with the larger than life screen image of Dharmendra (played by himself in the film), a role she essayed to perfection. Within days, every school and college going male – me included – had fallen madly in love with this new innocent sensation Jaya Bhaduri. So when a little later in the year she came to our IIT Powai Campus to shoot for the film Jawani Diwani (along with Randhir Kapoor and Narendranath) the whole campus, predominantly male, was one over the other to get a glimpse of her. Now, I had a few advantages. For one, I was in my final year, a senior now, but even more important than that, I was perhaps among the very few at that time who possessed a 35mm camera, which I proudly wore around my neck. My sincere plea that I wanted to take pictures (and my honest face), gave me some sort of an official entry into the protected area around the stars and allowed me to follow them almost everywhere for the three days that they shot on our campus. We later invited the cast for high tea to our Hostel 7, but only the male stars, the director, the cinematographer and some technicians attended. Jaya did not attend. A few years ago, in 2012, I happened to meet Randhir Kapoor at a wedding in Udaipur, we exchanged pleasantries, made small talk, and while he obviously did not remember me, he did remember the tea at our hostel. Or so he said.
At around the same time, an uncle of mine A.C. Dewan was also producing a film called Ek Nazar starring Jaya Bhaduri and Amitabh Bachchan. My aunt, knowing I would be interested, let me know that they would be shooting for a few days at a bungalow in Juhu, and that I could come for the shootings if I wanted to. I certainly wasn’t going to let a chance to meet Jaya Bhaduri pass, so every evening, class or no class me and some select hostel mates would hop onto a BEST bus, head to the Bungalow and hang around watching the shooting. Most of the time there was really no shooting going on. There were extras rehearsing their scenes, lights being set up, in fact almost everybody just twiddling their thumbs, and then suddenly a stray scene would be shot with some extras for about 5 minutes and then nothing again of any interest. On the first two days, neither Jaya nor Amitabh even showed up. We were there, and everybody would say they were expected, but then later we would be told they are not coming. On the third day when we reached there, we were told right away – today confirmed they are definitely coming, aaj unka shot hai. The place felt different too, less casual, everybody seemed more at work, and later, even my uncle dropped by. Packed dinner packs were ordered from Gazebos for all of us and we had a nice dinner with the crew. Finally, at about 10pm we were told they are on the way. Two minutes later they were there and we got a first glimpse of Amitabh Bachchan (he was not a known star then) and everybody’s heart throb Jaya Bhaduri. They shot for about an hour or so and we watched the shooting in silence. After the shoot my uncle introduced us to them, we got their autographs, but other than that it was a very stiff encounter, sadly no pictures were taken, and that was it. They disappeared as quietly as they had appeared soon after. That was my one and only brief encounter with Amitabh Bachchan, while truly speaking, at that time I was more mesmerized by Jaya.
And I did get to meet her yet again, just a few days later, this time even more informally at a function at the FTII at Pune. One of my NDA Kids friends, also a school mate, Madhukar Srivastava, was pursuing a course in Cinematography at the institute, and when in Poona, I would often drop by at the FTII to see him. On this occasion he told me you’re just in time. There’s a special screening of Guddi being held today and Jaya is here too. So there we were in the small preview theater watching Guddi with Jaya sitting just one row ahead. Asrani, also ex-FTII, was there too and a couple of others who I now forget. It was a fun screening with all the students enjoying themselves, making wisecracks, passing comments, and after the screening I got to talk to Jaya. I told her about following her around in IIT for Jawani Diwani, watching her shoot for Ek Nazar, and now here. She laughed saying no wonder you looked so familiar, was wondering where I had seen you. Totally made my day.
For those who may not be aware, Jaya Bhaduri became Jaya Bachchan a few months later when she got married to Amitabh Bachchan. They have a wonderful marriage going and a lovely family.
Sadly all the B&W Pictures taken during those days have been misplaced, missing, cannot be traced. Unlike today’s digital pictures, they were fewer, needed proper storage and occupied physical space. Mishandling and carelessness led to their loss and destruction. Which is why I now always advise my friends and family that it is worth spending that little extra time it takes to safely save and store them, and thus ensure the preservation of one’s pictures. Today it may seem too much trouble, but 20 or 30 years down the line when you want to share your memories with your kids and grand kids, you will feel really sad when you cannot locate those pictures that you know you had and which meant so much at that time.