India, Sept. 13 -- Jaya Bachchan's career is often remembered for her luminous on-screen presence in films. At a time when her natural acting style was breaking new ground in Hindi cinema, she was among the few leading ladies who could hold her own opposite stalwarts like Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar and husband Amitabh Bachchan.

But 1973 proved to be a turning point, not just professionally, but personally too. After marrying Amitabh Bachchan that year, she continued to act for a while, but following the birth of her daughter, Shweta, in 1974 and Abhishek in 1976, Jaya quietly stepped back from the industry. She made rare appearances - most notably in Yash Chopra's Silsila (1981), a film that became the subject of endless chatter because o...