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When Bachchans became parents in reel life
To experience events beforehand is the fate of every actor.
They tie the knot, several times, before they actually do.
They pretend to play loving parents to child actors before embracing a lifetime's responsibility to feel the same for their own brood.
Becoming parents is a big deal, on or off screen. All the more if you are a celebrity of Bachchan-sized proportions. Ever since the news of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's pregnancy came out in the open, media is preoccupied with providing every tiny detail of her condition. And now that she has delivered the 'cutest baby girl,' there's all the more reason to rejoice.
Here are then, our best wishes to Ash, Abhishek and their newly arrived bundle of joy while taking a look at the significant movies in which they and the senior Bachchans -- Amitabh and Jaya -- played reel-life mommy and daddy.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Dil Ka Rishta, produced by Ash's brother Aditya Rai, drew huge flak from for its outdated plot and disregard for common sense. But it's the first time Ash displayed her prowess as a gentle mother to a toddler.
Trouble is she's suffering from memory loss and doesn't realise the baby she's showering with so much attention is hers and not Arjun Rampal's like she's compelled to believe.
Next Ash played a super mom to a precocious boy in Rohan Sippy's directorial debut, Kuch Naa Kaho starring future husband, Abhishek. Too bad the desi Dorothy Boyd didn't catch the audience's fancy so much.
The duo worked again on Mani Ratnam's Guru, which captures their journey from a newly-married couple, ecstatic parents to twins and an ageing husband-wife to perfection.
Abhishek Bachchan
Bachchan Junior experienced the pangs of fatherhood from his debut Refugee itself.
J P Dutta's cross-border romance co-starring Kareena Kapoor has the young lovers uniting against all odds to consummate their relationship leading to a bonny proof of their togetherness at the fag end of a very lengthy movie.
His crackling chemistry with Rani Mukerji in Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli too puts a stop to their conman activities with the arrival of a child. And there's a lot more to provide for when wifey Ash delivers twin girls in Mani Ratnam's critically-acclaimed Guru.
Even so Abhishek's most relevant contribution to the same is as the affectionate and affable Paa, to his own father no less, in R Balki's unusual albeit endearing drama of the same name.
Amitabh Bachchan
Big B's comfort level with the young ones has always come across screen. No wonder he played such a convincing doting dad to a cute little boy in Do Anjaane co-starring Rekha. Especially memorable is his 'Arre aao na' ditty, which he sings lovingly to appease his petulant son.
He's also played his own father in several double-role capers like Adalat, Aakhree Raasta and Mahaan to memorable results.
Other than that, AB's played the stern-faced yet fond, indulging father to a pampered Sweety types in Yash Chopra's Kabhi Kabhie, a disciplinarian daddy to Ash in Aditya Chopra's Mohabbatein and SRK and Hrithik Roshan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, a kind-hearted pitaji pained by the shifting attitude of his selfish sons in Baghban, a friendly father to a spoilt Akshay Kumar in Waqt: Race Against Time and needless to add, his real life son Abhishek in Sarkar, Sarkar Raj and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.
Jaya Bachchan
Hindi cinema's original Guddi's genuineness and radiance makes the perfect candidate to play Ma. Although when the opportunity to do so presented itself, courtesy Gulzar's Koshish, it wasn't short of a challenge. The actress, along with Sanjeev Kumar, essays a deaf and mute married couple and their hardships to raise their perfectly normal son with all the advantages possible.
In the Yash Chopra romance Silsila, Jaya's pregnancy, which is revealed in an emotional scene to Amitabh Bachchan, proves to be a turning point, ultimately, deciding the climax of its story.
The second phase of Jaya's career saw her paint different hues of motherhood -- ranging from heartbroken to compassionate to demanding with dignity through performances like Fiza, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kal Ho Naa Ho and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.