Actress Jaya Bachchan (April 9, 1948), rings in her 6oth birthday today, in a quiet celebration with her husband, son and daughter-in-law in Miami. The senior Bachchans, Amitabh and Jaya, and Aishwariya are believed to have left for Miami to join son Abhishek. He is shooting in the US for Karan Johar's home production Dostana.

Following the death of Amitabh's mother, Teji Bachchan, there will be no celebrations for Jaya's 60th birthday, unlike the Big B's 60th birthday some years ago, which was celebrated with much pomp. Jaya Bachchan (Bhaduri),has straddled and played many roles in her real life. From being an actress par excellance to becoming the wife of superstar of the millennium, and now a parliamentarian, she has seen it all in her 60 years. One of the most promising graduates from FTII, she created a stir of sorts with her plain-girl looks and natural acting style in Guddi, her first Hindi movie. However, this was not her debut in films as she had already acted in a film by Satyajit Ray called Mahanagar, when she was only 15. Some of her most memorable performances have been opposite her husband in films like, Zanjeer, Abhimaan and Milli. The other actor with whom she did quite a few films was the late Sanjeev Kumar. They did films like Koshish, Parichay, Anamika, Naya Din Nayi Raat, Nauker together. The two prefctly complemented each other's acting style. After her marriage to Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya preferred to let her acting take a back seat and played the role of the dutiful wife and loving mother. In between, she did make a brief comeback as the wife in Yash Chopra's Silsila opposite her husband. Much later, she resumed her acting career, acting in a couple of Bengali and Hindi films. She has worked with the best of directors and actors and succeeded in carving a niche for herself, one that was filled by actresses like Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Deepti Naval in later years. Movietalkies.com would like to take this occasion to wish Jaya Bachchan a very happy birthday.