When the Bachchan babies were born

The birth of the newest Bachchan is cause for happiness for the family itself, their friends, and millions of fans all over the world.

On this happy occasion, we decided to go back in time to the moment when Amitabh Bachchan's mother Teji Bachchan was pregnant with him, and when Jaya Bachchan was pregnant with Shwetabhari.

Let's start with Jaya Bachchan. Here's presenting an excerpt from the book Sholay: The Making of a Classic by Anupama Chopra.

October 3rd was the first day of work. Sholay's first shot was a contrite Amitabh returning the keys to the safe to Jaya. This little scene is one of the two in the entire film when Jai speaks to the widow, Radha, and it is the start of their love story.

Jaya was three months pregnant at the time. Amitabh had driven her up the bumpy unpaved road to the Thakur's house in a four-wheeler himself. He wanted to make sure that she was comfortable.

He wasn't very enthusiastic about the location, and Jaya's condition was not the only reason why. Amitabh did not think that an untested and unconventional location like Ramanagaram was appropriate for a film like Sholay. 'You normally associate dacoits and hired killers with a setting like Rajasthan,' he says, 'and this was totally contrary --green, with big boulders... I thought, Ramesh Sippy has really lost it.'

While Jaya struggled with morning sickness and rough roads, Hema struggled with reams of dialogue. Basanti talked non-stop. And Hema just couldn't get the lines and the style right. 'Yeh itna lamba lamba dialogue kaun bolega? (Who's going to speak such long dialogues?)' she said. 'Surely, you will cut some of it out?'