When Amitabh supported Jaya not to use the last name ‘Bachchan’ in the film, “She is more famous…”

Veteran Bollywood actress and MP Jaya Bachchan was recently in the news for her name. He objected when Speaker Jaideep Dhankhar called him ‘Jaya Amitabh Bachchan’ during a parliamentary session. After the incident, the issue was widely discussed from news to social media.

However, the issue seems to have not cooled down yet, as users on social media platform Reddit found an old post by Jaya’s father, renowned journalist Tarun Kumar Bhaduri, in which he narrated how superstar Amitabh Bachchan defended not using his name and Jaya’s name on movie posters.

Amitabh defends Jaya
In a 1989 article for Pictorial Weekly, Tarun recounted how he took a stand when Amitabh’s name was not associated with Jaya’s professional name. He wrote, “I remember one incident. After they got married, Jaya was doing a film and when the poster arrived, it had only Jaya’s name on it, which was the one she had used before her marriage (Jaya Bhaduri). Someone, trying to please Amitabh, asked, ‘Why is it written like this? Bachchan should have been added to his name.’ To which Amitabh immediately retorted, ‘Of course he is Bachchan, but you should know that in the industry and professionally, he is better known as Jaya Bhaduri.'”

Pandit objects to Jaya and Amitabh’s marriage
Tarun said in his article that the Bengali Pandit who performed the wedding of the film industry couple was against the marriage because Jaya was a Bengali and Amitabh was not. He wrote: “The Bengali Pandit was the first to object to the marriage between a Bengali Brahmin (Jaya) and a non-Bengali non-Brahmin (Amitabh). The matter was resolved after much debate. Amitabh completed all the rituals without harming anyone and the rituals continued till the next morning.

Amitabh’s father-in-law also called him the “most maligned and misunderstood person in the film industry” because of his fame and “introverted” personality off-screen. Tarun described Amitabh as a “sweet boy” and said that media reports that he was not happy with Jaya-Amitabh’s marriage were not true.