Diva Spotlight: Jaya Prada

Born as Lalita Rani in 1962, this diva has dabbled in numerous film industries as well as politics. She started her career as a child artist in the mid 70s. Her debut performance came in 1974 with a 3-minute stint in Telugu movie 'Bhoomikosam'. This was followed by several other films which earned her immediate fame. Her foray into Hindi cinema came in 1979 with the film 'Sargam' co-starring Rishi Kapoor - which was a remake of one of her own South films, both directed by K. Vishwanath. She became an overnight star in Bollywood. The film earned the then 17 year old a Filmfare Best Actress nomination (she lost to Jaya Bhaduri). However the success was short lived because she was not fluent in Hindi and therefore was not getting any great offers. This changed in 1982 again with the help of K. Vishwanath with 'Kaamchor' starring opposite Rakesh Roshan. Thereafter she became a superstar and was loved by the masses whether it was her Hindi, Bengali, Telugu or Tamil films.

Jaya Prada and Rishi Kapoor in 'Sargam' (1979)

The thing I most remember about her is her early 80s films with Sridevi. The were both from the south, and entered Bollywood around the same time henceforth becoming rivals. 1984 saw her second nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards for her role in 'Sharabi' co-starring Amitabh Bachchan (lost to Shabana Azmi). In the same year she had many hits with Sridevi including 'Tohfa' and 'Maqsad'. The latter became infamous for it's behind-the-scenes cat fighting between the two leading ladies. The two leaging men of the film Rajesh Khanna and Jeetendra decided to lock the two divas in the same dresing room so they would make-up but in vain. The door opened and they were sat at opposite sides of the room. There is an intense dance sequence in the film between the two, check it out here:
The fierce rivalry was much talked about, and is still talked about even to this day. Last year Jaya was quoted in an interview saying "Sridevi was jealous of me and considered me her rival. We would be at the same shoot, but sitting in two different corners. So much so, that in a film with Jeetendra, in which she was to be shown as dying on my lap, her mother told the director, “My daughter will not die in Jaya’s lap. You please change the scene.”

Jaya Prada in 'Maa' (1992)

1985 saw her team up once again with K. Vishwanath and their collaboration 'Sanjog' earned Jaya her third and final Best Actress nomination. She lost the award to Dimple Kapadia who made a comeback that year. Throught the rest of the decade the hits kept coming and Jaya was aappreciated for her roles. By the new decade, now in her 30s she had started to regularly play the role of a mothe. Some of her most memorable roles were 'Thanedaar' (1990) - alongside fellow UBD Madhuri Dixit; 'Farishtay' (1991); 'Maa' (1992); Khalnaaikaa (1993); and 'Insaniyat' (1994). She returned to prominence in 1999 with Amitabh Bachchan in 'Kohram'.


From her latest releases the only one that comes to mind is 'Khakhee' (2004) where she starred once again opposite Amitabh Bachchan. She has been working on a film with Shilpa Shetty for quite some time now. It is a multi-lingual film which was due to be released in 2010, so keep your eyes peeled.

Jaya's UBDs: Sridevi, Padmini, Madhuri Dixit, Anu Agarwal, Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Tabu.