Jaya Bachchan has been a Dharmendra fan ever since she can remember.
In a past conversation she had told Subhash K Jha, "I was praised for my first film Guddi, but I had to do no acting. I was playing a girl who idolised Dharmendra, the star. That came naturally to me. I remember on the first day of shooting, when he arrived, I couldn't face him. I hid behind a sofa."
Two years later, Jaya got the chance to play the romantic lead opposite Dharmendra in Prakash Mehra's Samadhi (1972). It was a double role for Dharmendra and both Asha Parekh and Jaya were paired opposite him. Jaya hardly had a role, and the film was a disappointment for her.
Now, in her third film with Dharmendra, Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Jaya plays a stern matriarch, who spends all her time spewing disdain at her screen husband.
"Jayaji, who has hero-worshipped Dharamji almost all her life, was very uncomfortable being so mean to him on screen. She had many discussions with Karan Johar on her cantankerous character," a source close to the film reveals.
"Why is she so mean to her entire family, especially her husband who is so gentle and romantic?" Jayaji asked Karan.
After the numerous discussions, she finally went with what Karan wanted.
