guddi

For anyone who was born in the last three decades, Jaya Bachchan is the filmy mother who is ready with a puja ki thali when her son is in the vicinity. While that’s a quintessential Hindi film moment, Jaya Bachchan wasn’t always the quintessential filmy heroine. On her 73rd birthday, we revisit the Hrishikesh Mukherjee directorial Guddi (1971) where Jaya starred alongside Dharmendra, Utpal Dutt and Samit Bhanja. Guddi is the story of a 17-18 year old girl named Kusum (Jaya Bachchan), fondly called Guddi, who is simply obsessed with film actor Dharmendra (played by Dharmendra). In her naïve mind, she…