Jaya Bachchan could do with a laugh

In February 2010, soon after Amar Singh and Jaya Prada were expelled by the Samajwadi Party, the spotlight was on Jaya Bachchan. Singh was close to the Bachchans. So would she too get the sack? Bachchan agreed to meet a TV news channel on the issue. The interview had just begun, when suddenly she turned away from the camera, her face contorted in anger and in a mix of Bengali and Hindi, shouted at someone in the room to leave saying he was disturbing her. And then, adjusting her white dupatta, she turned back to the camera with a smile. By then, that part of the interview, which was being streamed live, had already gone on air, sending the newsroom into a tizzy.

Angry outbursts have become synonymous with Bachchan. The most recent one was on August 14, when she targeted radio jockeys in Rajya Sabha. Raising the matter during Question Hour, Bachchan sought action against RJs who joke about and mimic Members of Parliament. The RJs hit back with more jokes and clogged the social media. One tweeted that this was Bachchan's revenge against radio channels for having once rejected her husband. (All India Radio had rejected Amitabh Bachchan, then a struggling youngster, after a voice audition).

The actor-politician whose image as the impish, charming girl-next-door endeared her to cinema-goers seems to have lost her sense of humour over the years. The 65-year-old is now known more for her scowls than for her crinkled-nose smile. Go to YouTube and there are several videos of 'Jaya Bachchan Shouts', 'Jaya Bachchan Angry' or 'Jaya Bachchan Really Angry'. The media happens to be her favourite target. At the launch of her sister-in-law Ramola's store, for example, when asked about her husband's health, she snapped at a journalist, "Don't act smart with me." In 2011, a journalist who wanted to know her expectations from the budget was admonished for "asking a political question". Pushing his mike, she had stomped off. In 2012, at a conference during the inauguration of a celebrity gym, she resorted to some more mike pushing. Then in 2013, she lost her temper again at Subhash Ghai's wife's birthday party, when a photographer addressed her daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as "Aishwarya". "Kya Aishwarya Aishwarya bula rahe ho; tumhari class mein padhti thi kya? (Why are you calling her Aishwarya? Was she your classmate?)," shouted Bachchan.

It's a pity, this transformation, considering that Bachchan shot to fame, as Jaya Bhaduri, through films like Guddi, Bawarchi, Chupke Chupke and Mili where humour flowed seamlessly - even through intense situations. She broke the stereotype that the heroine had no option but to be glamorous. She played the smitten schoolgirl. She played the coy wife. But never was she an angry young woman. The angry roles were all for her husband and he created a genre out of them. But time appears to have reversed the roles.

Another touchy subject is Rekha, a fellow actor and now a colleague in the Rajya Sabha. In 2012, when Rekha was nominated to the Upper House, Bachchan reportedly got her seat changed because Rekha was allotted one right behind her. Bachchan recently complained to Rajya Sabha Chairperson and Vice-president Hamid Ansari that Rajya Sabha TV unnecessarily focused the camera on her when Rekha took oath. This was old footage being played during a report on Rekha's poor attendance in Parliament. 

Bachchan's performance in Parliament, when compared to Rekha, has been far better. According to PRS Legislative Research, she had 58 per cent attendance from June 2009 to February 2014; the national average was 77 per cent. In Budget Session 2014, her attendance was 100 per cent. She also participated in 24 debates (the national average was 26) and asked 196 questions (national average 186). In Parliament, she has raised some relevant issues: crimes against women, child marriage, atrocity against Dalits, poor working condition in the unorganised sector, organ donation and many more. But her angry woman image has overshadowed her work.