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Ever since the grand wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, the spotlight has been on Indian weddings. Though many often opt for a big fat wedding in the country, during the coronavirus pandemic we were introduced to the intimate wedding. But guess who had an intimate wedding even before it was a trend? Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan! Amitabh Bachchan’s father, legendary poet and writer Harivansh Rai Bachchan has described the wedding in his autobiography, In the Afternoon Of Time: An Autobiography.And did you know that Jaya Bachchan’s dad told Harivansh Rai Bachchan that “My family is utterly ruined.”
Following the success of his films ‘Namak Haram’ , ‘Saudagar’, and released in February, March and May of 1973, Amitabh Bachchan conveyed to his family about marrying Jaya. Because of the Big B’s growing popularity, the wedding was kept a secret, with the attendance of only a few people.
“Jaya’s family decided not to hold the ceremony at their flat in Beach House but at a friend’s place on the top floor of the Skylark building in Malabar Hills, where it could pass off unnoticed. We sent a telegram to Jagdish Rajan to ‘come with your family immediately,’ with no indication of the reason. Teji invited Mrs Gandhi by telephone: as was expected, she sent her felicitations but could not come herself (just as well — her coming would have been the end of the secrecy); Sanjay would represent the family,” Harivansh Rai Bachchan wrote in his autobiography.
Jaya Bachchan’s family wanted the marriage to be conducted in the Bengali manner, which according to Harivansh Rai Bachchan, their family ‘had no objection’. ‘The first stage was the var-puja, the veneration of the groom, which involved Jaya’s father coming to Mangal (Amitabh’s residence) with gifts and conducting a small ceremony; I then reciprocated by doing the same for the bride at Beach House. I noticed something quite unexpected at Beach House: nobody in the family, apart from Jaya, showed even the slightest trace of pleasure,” he wrote.
In the book, it is also described how Big B’s Haldi ceremony subdued, and ‘the joy that was so confined by this constriction spilled out in a tingling of the spine and a tearful glimmering of the eye, especially in Teji’s case.” Teji Bachchan is Amitabh’s mother. In order to keep the wedding low key, they had to lie to the neighbors that the decorations in the house were for Amitabh’s next film! The barat was welcomed ‘without fanfare’, and he also describes a ‘bashful shyness’ on Jaya’s face.
But what happened following the wedding was quite unexpected. “Before we left, I embraced the father of my new daughter-in-law and congratulated him on getting a son-in-law like Amit, expecting him to say the same in respect of Jaya. But he said, ‘My family is utterly ruined’,” he wrote.
Following the success of his films ‘Namak Haram’ , ‘Saudagar’, and released in February, March and May of 1973, Amitabh Bachchan conveyed to his family about marrying Jaya. Because of the Big B’s growing popularity, the wedding was kept a secret, with the attendance of only a few people.
“Jaya’s family decided not to hold the ceremony at their flat in Beach House but at a friend’s place on the top floor of the Skylark building in Malabar Hills, where it could pass off unnoticed. We sent a telegram to Jagdish Rajan to ‘come with your family immediately,’ with no indication of the reason. Teji invited Mrs Gandhi by telephone: as was expected, she sent her felicitations but could not come herself (just as well — her coming would have been the end of the secrecy); Sanjay would represent the family,” Harivansh Rai Bachchan wrote in his autobiography.
Jaya Bachchan’s family wanted the marriage to be conducted in the Bengali manner, which according to Harivansh Rai Bachchan, their family ‘had no objection’. ‘The first stage was the var-puja, the veneration of the groom, which involved Jaya’s father coming to Mangal (Amitabh’s residence) with gifts and conducting a small ceremony; I then reciprocated by doing the same for the bride at Beach House. I noticed something quite unexpected at Beach House: nobody in the family, apart from Jaya, showed even the slightest trace of pleasure,” he wrote.
In the book, it is also described how Big B’s Haldi ceremony subdued, and ‘the joy that was so confined by this constriction spilled out in a tingling of the spine and a tearful glimmering of the eye, especially in Teji’s case.” Teji Bachchan is Amitabh’s mother. In order to keep the wedding low key, they had to lie to the neighbors that the decorations in the house were for Amitabh’s next film! The barat was welcomed ‘without fanfare’, and he also describes a ‘bashful shyness’ on Jaya’s face.
But what happened following the wedding was quite unexpected. “Before we left, I embraced the father of my new daughter-in-law and congratulated him on getting a son-in-law like Amit, expecting him to say the same in respect of Jaya. But he said, ‘My family is utterly ruined’,” he wrote.
Abhishek Bachchan’s Unexpected Response to Being Torn Between Aishwarya, Jaya and Shweta! Must Watch
Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan have celebrated 51 years of marriage. They have two children, Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. Shweta, who is married to Nikhil Nanda, has two children: a son, Agastya Nanda, and a daughter, Navya Naveli Nanda. Abhishek is married to Aishwarya Rai, and they have a daughter named Aaradhya Bachchan.
