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Designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla reflected on their nearly four-decade long association with actor-politician Jaya Bachchan, whom they began working with when she’d taken a break from acting. In an interview, they described Jaya as a ‘misunderstood’ person who doesn’t appreciate being spoken to as ‘Amitabh Bachchan’s wife’. They said that she prefers being spoken to as an individual, and that she takes the responsibility of keeping them grounded when they get too big for their boots. Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have been closely associated with the Bachchan family for decades, and designed Shweta Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan’s respective wedding outfits.
Appearing on Namrata Zakaria’s YouTube channel, they were asked about Jaya Bachchan’s public persona, which has often been highlighted in the press. “She is not a media friendly person at all,” they said, adding, “For us, she’s been a mentor… People are too judgmental, and she’s a person who likes her space. She’s not touchy-feely at all. If you’re addressing her for who she is, she’s very happy to talk to you. But if you’re talking to her because she’s someone’s mother, someone’s mother-in-law, or someone’s wife, then her attitude is different.”
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Explaining further, they said, “She just wants people to be clear: ‘You want to talk to me as a wife, talk to me as a wife. But if you want to talk to me as Jaya, talk to me as Jaya. Don’t talk to me as Jaya if you want to know about other people in my life’. She’s just direct, and she hates people coming into her space, and she hates being photographed.”
Further opening up about their equation with Jaya Bachchan, the designers said, “If Jaya has made friends with you or believes in you, there is nothing that can change her mind. The trust is implicit. At the same time, honesty is also implicit. Every time we would ‘take a flight’ from our reality, she’d be there to say, ‘Guys, you’re flying too high’. Even today, she says, ‘Boys, I’ll know you’re successful the day you have your own private jet’. We say, ‘Jaya, it’s not happening’.”
They said that fame hit them very quickly, and they were hobnobbing in high-society early in their careers. “Jaya makes us smell the coffee,” they said, describing themselves as ‘strugglers’ whose fathers were wealthy, ‘but lost everything’. “Only a genuine friend will tell you to get your feet back on the ground,” they said, showering praise on the entire Bachchan family, including Jaya and Amitabh’s grandchildren, Agastya Nanda and Navya Naveli Nanda.
