HT Archive: When Jaya Bachchan’s list of favourite Amitabh Bachchan films revealed she prefers him in grey roles
Published on: Oct 11, 2025 06:14 am IST
As Amitabh Bachchan celebrates his 83rd birthday on October 11, looking back at when Jaya Bachchan spoke to Hindustan Times about his roles.
On Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday in 2002, Jaya Bachchan gave an interview to Subhash K Jha for Hindustan Times about her husband. Talking about writing a book named To Be Or Not To Be for him as a gift that year, Jaya spoke about her favourite Big B movies, how she believes he’s being shortchanged in the film industry and more. On Amitabh’s 83rd birthday today (October 11), looking back at the HT Archives.
Jaya Bachchan liked Amitabh Bachchan in grey roles
When Jaya listed out her favourite Amitabh films, they all seemed to have one thing in common – her husband in a grey role. “Jyoti Swaroop’s Parivana, where he played the negative role of a man who murders the father of the girl who spurns his love, Sudhendu Roy’s Saudagar (again a negative role of a gur-seller who cons a gur-maker Nutan into marriage for money) and Mukul Anand’s Agneepath (co-incidentally another role with distinct shades of grey) are my favourite Amitabh Bachchan starrers,” she told HT.
The actor-politician also remarked that Amitabh could ‘do a lot more’ and a ‘lot better’ as an actor. “But it isn’t he who has set limits to his talent. It’s the people creating characters and moulding his performance whose vision is limited,” said Jaya.
Jaya Bachchan said Amitabh Bachchan’s performance depended on director
Jaya remarked in the interview that Amitabh has “all the qualities necessary for a good actor” but that his performances depend on whom he’s working with. “His performances have varied depending on the director. The Amitabh Bachchan in a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film was completely different from an Amitabh Bachchan in a Manmohan Desai film,” she pointed out, adding, “Of course, there were films where he just played according to his screen image instead of getting into character. I guess some directors wanted to capitalise on his larger-than-life image. Sadly, there has been a lack of challenging parts for AB.”
For the unversed, Jaya and Amitabh worked together in films such as Abhiman, Kora Kagaz, Sholay, Chupke Chupke, and were a popular pair. They married on June 3, 1973, and have two children together – Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan.
