Fans, the media and the paparazzi literally went berserk when Rekha awarded Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with a trophy at a recent award ceremony in Mumbai. Why? Well, because Aishwarya addressed the veteran actress as ‘maa’ in her acceptance speech. Now, I can understand why that’s blasphemous, given Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan’s complicated history. But read on to know why you’re getting it all wrong.
So this is exactly what happened, Rekha gave Aishwarya the Power Packed Performer Award for her impressive comeback in Sanjay Gupta’s Jazbaa. In her acceptance speech, Aishwarya thanked a number of people and then looked at Rekha and said ‘Thankyou, Rekha Maa’ before continuing.
Jaws dropped and we’ve been stuck with ‘maa’ ever since. Even my mum rang me up to ask about why Aishwarya said that. Now there’s no need to panic. Don’t you think Aishwarya would be in real trouble if this really was a goof up? So let me break it to you. Aishwarya’s statement had absolutely nothing to do with Amitabh Bachchan.
Rekha is a Tamilian and Aishwarya is a Mangalorean. Down south, it is common practice to address another woman as ‘maa’, just as a way of showing respect and gratitude. It pretty much means exactly the same thing as suffixing ‘ji’ to a name. So basically, all that Aishwarya really said was ‘Thankyou Rekha ji’. A person’s name is attached to ‘maa’ just to give it respect. Even Jayalalithaa is addressed as ‘Jayalalithaa Maa’ and also Amma.
So now, can we all please move on and let poor Aishwarya Rai live in peace?
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