Jaya Bachchan recalls earning money for the first time at 13: ‘Have no idea how much I was paid, never asked my father’

Jaya Bachchan said she first earned money, when she was only 13-years-old. However, the veteran actor added, she does not know how much she was paid, and never asked her father about it.

Jaya Bachchan spoke about her first salary on the latest episode of granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda's podcast What The Hell Navya. Jaya Bachchan and Navya were also joined by the veteran actor and politician’s daughter Shweta Bachchan as they discussed their relationship with money in the episode titled ‘Girls just wanna have funds’. Jaya recalled earning money for the first time, when she was only 13, but added she has no idea how much she ‘was paid’.

Jaya Bachchan with actor-husband Amitabh Bachchan. (File Photo)

Jaya had made her acting debut as a teenager in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film Mahanagar (1963). Recalling her first paycheck, Jaya told Navya as the two discussed financial independence with Shweta Bachchan on the podcast, “I had no relationship with money.”

Jaya said, “I earned money for the first time at the age of 13. I have no idea how much I was paid… I never even asked him (her father). And it never ever bothered me…” Jaya recalled her father Taroon Kumar Bhaduri buying her a record player on which she played Cliff Richard songs with her first salary.

“When I went to the institute, I told my father I don’t want you to finance it. I paid for my education,” the actor added. Jaya studied at Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. The veteran actor and politician met actor-husband Amitabh Bachchan for the first time at the Film and Television Institute of India, and then again on the set of their film Guddi (1971) – her first movie role as an adult. After dating for some time, Jaya and Amitabh married in 1973.

While discussing women’s take on money and how they look at finances in the latest episode of the podcast What The Hell Navya, Jaya gave her mother’s example. She said, “I remember my mother (Indira Bhaduri) had a little kit, where she used to put money (and say) ‘yeh bhagwan ke liye hai (this is for God)’. For them (older women) everything (is) ‘yeh bhagwan karega, yeh bhagwan ne kiya (God will do this, God has done this)’ with good excuses.”

Jaya, Shweta and Navya Naveli Nanda also discussed the notion that women cannot manage money as they spoke about how crucial financial independence was for women. Sharing a promo of the episode, Navya wrote in the caption of her Instagram Reels, “Dealing with money is hard, and if you feel that way you're not the only one. To know more, check out the latest episode – Girls just wanna have funds…”