Jaya Prada is one of the finest actresses of Bollywood. Jaya rose to fame with the 1984 film Sharabi, in which she was seen opposite Amitabh Bachchan. In an old interview given to Doordarshan, Jaya shared many anecdotes while talking about the film Sharabi. He had said that Sharabi has been the most memorable film of his life.
Amitabh Bachchan first meeting was like this: Jaya told that she was nervous when she met Amitabh Bachchan for the first time. The actress said, “I was very nervous because she has a good command over the language and then I did not know Hindi so well. He supported me a lot when we started shooting.”
Jaya told that she was a fan of Amitabh since childhood. That is why it was a dream come true for me to work with him in the film. I was very happy and that film became a blockbuster. The actress said that she learned discipline from Big B.
All films with Amitabh were hits: Jaya said that every film she did with Amitabh Bachchan was a hit. Apart from the film Sharabi, Jaya Prada and Amitabh Bachchan worked in many films including Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Aaj Ka Arjun, Insaniyat and Indrajit.
Told Amitabh the lucky star: Jaya Prada said that Amit ji is my lucky co-star. All the hits of the film with him. Amit ji has made a big contribution to the Hindi film business. He makes the actors working with him feel like a superstar.
Jaya also recalled her toughest on-shoot experience. He said that shooting a song in D Ramanaidu production was full of challenges for him. His film was based on Yaddanpudi Sulochana Rani’s novel of the same name and was also an adaptation of V Shantaram’s Jal Bin Fish Dance Bin Bijli.
For the song of this film, he had to play the role of a serpent. Jaya told that the director had asked her if she can dance? He felt humiliated at this and tears welled up in his eyes.
Punishment was given for being late for dance rehearsal: The actress said, “When I went for the rehearsal, I was sick and I had a fever of 103. The choreographer was a strict master. When I went in, I was only five minutes late. For which he made me stand on one leg for half an hour as punishment. I was sick so I started crying. Jaya similarly shared many experiences related to her career.