The incontrovertibly brilliant cinematographer-director Govind Nihalani hasn’t made a film in quite a while. While his directorial acumen was best displayed in Ardh Satya, Nihalani’s 1998 human drama about a mother’s search for her missing son, gets very high marks.
It deserves to be seen by today’s generation of audiences who think Jaya Bachchan was born in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Her body of work prior to Karan Johar’s blockbuster is breathtaking. Jaya Bachchan came out of retirement to deliver a tour de force performance.
When a veteran journalist who was close to Jaya reprimanded her for “making too many faces” Jaya had retorted, “That could be a mother’s anguish at losing her son. I am certainly not into over-acting.”
Nihalani told me he could have not made Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa without Jaya.
Govind Nihalani persuaded Jaya Bachchan out of retirement to play a powerful matriarch with a wimpy husband (Anupam Kher) whose only son (played brilliantly Joy Sengupta) dies suddenly. The devastated mother revisits her son’s life after his death to discover some dark uncomfortable truths about him. This is a nerve-wracking, life-changing film that is meant to change how we look at our lives vis-à-vis those closest to us.
Jaya admits this was the most challenging role of her career and the most rewarding. It also started her journey as a Cine Ma.
Jaya Bachchan As The On-Screen Mother
Recalling the days, Jaya shares, “It started with Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa where I played Joy Sengupta’s mother. Then came Khalid Mohamed’s Fiza where Karisma and Hrithik Roshan were my children. Preity (Zinta) and I made a most natural daughter-mother pair in Kal Ho Naa Ho. We didn’t have to fake our feelings. I’ve seldom met anyone so frank and yet she keeps distance. It was like sitting and talking to my own daughter.”
Working with Govinda Nihalani was a unique experience for Jaya. She adds, “He persuaded me to do the film. At that point of time I was not keen on doing a film, unless it was as inspiring as this.”
She confesses to a “very special bonding” with actor Shah Rukh Khan who played her son in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. “Preity used to get very upset when people expressed their disappointment that I wasn’t playing Shah Rukh Khan’s mom in Kal Ho Naa Ho. Like my Shweta, Preity is so young and yet like my friend. But Shweta is not as talkative as Preity,” Jaya says.
She also talks about how she enjoyed playing Waheeda Rehman’s daughter in Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Phagun. “One of the roles that I enjoyed the most was playing Waheeda Rehmanji’s daughter in Phagun. One of my unfulfilled wishes as an actress is to cast Kajol in the daughter’s role and me in the mother’s role in Phagun,” Jaya ends.
