When Jaya Bachchan said she isn’t ‘chidchidi’ but can’t suffer stupidity

Jaya Bachchan has been in the film industry for six decades. She made her film debut in Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar (1963) as a teenager and broke through Bollywood with her performance in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Guddi in 1971. The veteran actor, who turns 75 on April 9, has been married to Amitabh Bachchan since June 3, 1973. (Also read: Jaya Bachchan laughs, interacts with Shashi Tharoor at Swara Bhasker and Fahad Ahmad’s wedding reception)

Over the years, with her interactions with the media and photographers, Jaya is often perceived as short-tempered. She countered that view and said she is spontaneous and can’t plan the response she has to someone else’s actions.

The veteran actor, who is also Member of Parliament from the Samajwadi Party, has been filmed on the red carpet and at film events, getting angry with the paparazzi or members of the press if they cross any personal boundaries with her family. On Karan Johar’s talk show Koffee With Karan, Jaya’s daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda had shared that Jaya doesn’t like if people take her pictures without asking her. Furthermore, she feels claustrophobic if too many people crowd around her.

While appearing on the TV show Guftagoo in 2014, the veteran actor had explained, “I don’t have patience for stupidity. If you tell me something where I can learn something or you’re giving me some knowledge, you will never feel that I am ‘chidchidi (irritable)’– I am finicky yes, but not chidchidi. I get angry because people waste my time. I cannot suffer foolishness.”

She further added, “I am more of a impulsive person. I react. My husband says ‘You are a very reactionary’ person—I don’t know if it is childish, I am spontaneous. I just know that if you do something in front of me, I’ll react spontaneously, there is never a planned response. I can’t plan like that, and neither do I ever intend to.”

Jaya will be seen in Karan’s film Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani this July alongside Dharmendra, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt and Shabana Azmi. She is returning to acting after a decade. Her last film was Rituparno Ghosh’s Sunglass in 2013. She made a special appearance in R Balki’s Ki & Ka in 2016.