When Jaya Bachchna revealed how she put her foot down while shooting for a rape scene in ‘Ek Nazar’

Jaya Bachchan is one of the finest actresses that Indian cinema has seen with a number iconic films like ‘Guddi’, ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Chupke Chupke’ among others. The actress is also known for her honesty till date. But did you know she always stood by her ground even in her younger days and made very brave choices? For instance, she put her foot down when she had to shoot for a rape scene in her film ‘Ek Nazar’.
The actress spoke in an interview with Rajya TV that she was told by the director BR Ishara that her clothes will be torn for a rape scene and that’s when she said ‘no’. The actress said, “I was told that your clothes will be torn, I said ‘no, I will not allow it’. There was a huge argument that happened with Babu da (BR Ishara) and he threatened that he will scrap the film, I said ‘okay, do it’. The producer threatened that he will go to the artists’ association and I said that do whatever you want.”

The actress always had her reservations about how much she wants to expose on screen. So, she further told the director that if he makes her forcefully do something, then she will act so badly that it will destroy the film. The shoot was cancelled and stalled for the next two days. Amitabh Bachchan was her co-star in this 1972 film so he intervened and told Jaya that if it’s in the script and the role is written that way then she should do it. Yet, the actress was clear and said, “I will not tear my clothes. I won’t allow anyone to show me on screen with my clothes torn.”
Sudhir had played the villain who was going to rape her. The director and the actress came to a compromise wherein they would do the scene naturally and whatever comes naturally to her. “The poor villain, who was going to rape me, I hit him so much during the scene. He said ‘I don’t want to rape her’,” laughed the actress while sharing this during the interview.

Jaya has confessed that maybe because she grew up in a middle-class family or came from a small town, she always had this inhibition about exposing her body on screen.

The Mili actor said that she always had an inhibition about exposing her body on screen and wondered how it came about. “I always had this inhibition that I will never expose my body. Maybe because I was from a small town or I grew up in a middle-class family. I don’t know what it was but I couldn’t,” she said.

After ‘Ek Nazar’ in 1972, Big B and Jaya shared screen space in ‘Zanjeer’ in May 1973. Soon after, they got married in the same year in June.