Did you know that Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan's wedding priest was against the marriage due to caste differences? Here's what we know
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan married in 1973 in a'secret' wedding. According to Jaya's father's journalist Taroon Coomar Bhadhuri, neither family objected to their union despite their unexpected choice. However, the Bengali priest who officiated over the ceremony first opposed the marriage owing to caste inequalities between Amitabh and Jaya.
Taroon Coomar Bhadhuri wrote for the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1989, "I sensed he was not your typical Bombay cinema star. There were spiteful individuals who said that Amitabh married Jaya because she was a huge star, but this is completely false. He waited for Zanjeer to be successful. But Jaya would have married him anyhow. That is something I know for certain. She is not a person who changes her opinion frequently. She is a headstrong individual who has always wanted her way since she was a youngster. It's tough for me to explain what brought them together."
Taroon added that Amitabh called Jaya's mother and asked her to go to Mumbai for the wedding. "A Bengali marriage is typically a drawn-out yet fascinating event. The Bengali priest (who was difficult to locate) first objected to having to preside over the marriage of a Bengali Brahmin (Jaya) and a non-Bengali non-brahmin (Amit). This was resolved after much struggle. Amit completed all of the ceremonies without offending anyone, and the ceremony continued until early the next morning. He carried out all of his instructions with honesty. The next day, they flew to London. On their return, I hosted a banquet in Bhopal, and Amit did anything he was ordered," Jaya's father wrote.
He also denied allegations that he opposed Jaya and Amitabh's union. He wrote, “I would like to know just one good reason why my wife or I would have opposed 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 has not looked back. 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 and Amitabh are among Bollywood's most popular couples. They have been married for almost 50 years and have two children: Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. They also have three grandchildren: Agastya Nanda, Navya Naveli Nanda, and Aaradhya Bachchan.