Jaya Bachchan: The woman who spoke volumes without shouting through her feminist roles way before it became cool

Jaya Bachchan turns 78

Long before Bollywood embraced overt feminism on screen, Jaya Bachchan was quietly but powerfully redefining the space for women in Indian cinema. In an era when the mainstream heroine was expected to be glamorous, docile, and decorative, Jaya’s characters were grounded, complex, and fiercely individualistic. Through minimal dialogue and deeply expressive eyes, she conveyed layers of inner strength, vulnerability, and resilience. On her birthday, we look back at some of her most feminist roles — characters that questioned patriarchy, demanded space, and lived life on their own terms.

Guddi (1971)
In her debut film Guddi, Jaya played a schoolgirl infatuated with film star Dharmendra. What begins as a naïve crush evolves into a coming-of-age story, where she learns the difference between real life and fantasy, maturity and infatuation. The film gently nudges her toward understanding her own desires, goals, and potential beyond the dreamy world of cinema. It’s a quiet awakening to female self-awareness.

Koshish (1972)
In Gulzar’s Koshish, Jaya Bachchan played a deaf and mute woman alongside Sanjeev Kumar in what remains one of Indian cinema’s most nuanced portrayals of disability. Rather than being portrayed as helpless, her character is shown as intelligent, emotionally rich, and immensely capable. She raises a child, and communicates with dignity in a world that constantly underestimates her. In doing so, Jaya’s character defied the age-old stereotype of women needing to be ‘rescued.’

Abhimaan (1973)
Perhaps one of her most celebrated roles, Abhimaan showed Jaya as Uma — a singer who rises to fame, threatening her husband’s fragile ego. Her success and self-assurance become the emotional core of the film, that exposes the insecurity many men feel when their wives outshine them. Rather than sacrificing her identity to soothe her husband’s pride, Uma retreats only after heartbreak, not as submission. Her quiet strength and refusal to apologise for her talent made Uma a feminist icon in disguise.

Mili (1975)
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Mili featured Jaya as a young woman living with a terminal illness, but the film never makes her a victim. Instead, Mili is vibrant, opinionated, and full of life. She brings light into the life of a man battling depression and becomes the emotional anchor of the story. Her character’s agency lies not in grand rebellion but in finding joy, spreading optimism, and choosing how to live, even in the face of death. Mili’s feminism lies in reclaiming life on her own terms.

Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998)
Jaya’s late-career role in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa is one of her most politically charged one. Playing the mother of a naxalite youth who is killed in a police encounter, she embarks on a soul-searching journey. From a conventional housewife unaware of her son’s life, she transforms into a woman who questions the state, society, and even herself. It’s a searing exploration of motherhood, justice, and a woman’s awakening in a world that never expected her to ask questions.

Jaya Bachchan never needed loud slogans or dramatic monologues to assert a woman’s place in the world. Her characters were feminist not because they always fought the system, but because they existed fully — with desires, doubts, strength, and most of all, dignity. In her hands, the everyday woman became extraordinary. And long before the word ‘feminist’ was fashionable in Bollywood, Jaya Bachchan was already showing us what it looked like.