Amitabh Bachchan has been sharing the title of the ‘Shehshah’ of Bollywood for decades now. His captivating on-screen presence and acting prowess, helped him garner unmatched stardom. However, with fame comes rumours, and Amitabh was also not spared from speculations. Certain rumours escalated to a point that once Amitabh Bachchan’s father-in-law Taroon Kumar Bhaduri came to his defence and called him a ‘misunderstood man.’
Many might not know, Amitabh Bachchan’s father-in-law, Taroon Kumar Bhaduri was a well-reputed journalist back in his day. Once he shared his insights in the Illustrated Weekly of India, where he wrote an article about Amitabh, Jaya, and the rumours that persisted about Rekha.
The late journalist addressed that he and his wife received unprecedented popularity, even from strangers. While his friends became over-friendly with him, many unknown people sent him cocktail invitations.
However, the water went above his head when he was asked to visit a women’s organisation to talk about Amitabh’s affair with Rekha. Not only did the rumours associate him with Rekha, but he was allegedly paired with Parveen Babi. It was common for Bhaduri to get invitations from Judo classes, as Bachchan was called the ‘Angry Young Man’. However, being contacted by a women’s organisation was unusual for him. “This unnerved me no end, and I told them I was too busy mismanaging my own affairs to bother about someone else’s,” shared Taroon Kumar Bhaduri.
He supported Amitabh against all the negative perceptions people had about him. He defended him by saying, “Amit, in real life, is an introvert. He talks only when it is necessary. He reads his Gita every morning and he plays his sitar. At times, he can be like a child. But in spite of all this, he is perhaps the most misunderstood and maligned man in the film industry.”
“So much venom and calumny have been poured on him by a section of the Bombay film press that any other man in his place would have cracked up. He takes it all in his stride. But he also knows how to hit back, and this he does occasionally,” Bhaduri wrote.