Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff was born on February 1, 65 years ago, and became known to the world as Jackie Shroff. Among the most respected personalities across the board, Jackie has acted today in over 220 films, shorts and on the web, besides being involved in television, as host and more. Here are some lesser-known facts about Jaggu Dada, as he is popularly known, or @bindasbhidu, his Twitter id.
‘Jack’ie of all languages: Jackie has done films in an incredible thirteen languages— Hindi, Marathi (which he can speak better than many Maharashtrians!), Gujarati (his mother-tongue), Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Odia and English.
‘Role’-model!: Asked why he accepts any and every role irrespective of length or even the quality or scale of the film, he simply told me, “Bhidu, I came here to be a villain and became a hero. I got much more than I wanted. Why should I think about such things?”
My hero: In his growing-up years, Jackie adored Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor and also Shashi Kapoor. But his fortunes seemed to be linked most with the first. “I had joined Asha Chandra’s acting classes to improve my voice and my Hindi. My colleague there, Suneil Anand, introduced me to his dad, Dev (Anand)-saab and I bagged Swami Dada, so I left the classes!” he had chuckled.
But Dev Anand had a different story to tell, though there could be a point where the two stories reconciled. “I saw this imposing boy on a hoarding and was impressed!” The result was a miniscule role of a villain’s sidekick in Dev’s Swami Dada (1982). Jackie was thus very lucky to later work with his idol as a leading man as well in Sachche Ka Bol Bala (1989), followed by Censor (2001) and Chargesheet (2011) and the outside film Return Of Jewel Thief (1996).
My heroes and me: In his big break, Hero (1983), he worked with Shammi Kapoor for the first time followed by Allahrakha (1986) and Lakshmanrekha (1993). He also starred with Shashi Kapoor in Akayla (1991). But he could not work with Asha Parekh, his favourite actress.
Fan of the Pakistani soldier: Jackie Shroff also became a fan of Shatrughan Sinha and ended up doing Yudh (1985), Jawab Hum Denge (1987) and Aan—Men At Work (2004) with him. “When I watched Dev-saab’s Prem Pujari, there was Shatru-saab as a Pakistani soldier and reciting dialogues in such a stylized manner that I began clapping for this enemy soldier involuntarily! Since then I have never missed any of his films!” he once told me when he had signed Shatrughan’s home production, Mere Dil Leke Dekho (2006).
Big name for the Khans: And when I had asked Aamir Khan his reaction to reuniting with Jackie for Dhoom 3 18 years after Rangeela, he told me, “For me, among both of us, Jackie is the far bigger star!” Salman Khan (including his home productions Bharat and Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai), Shah Rukh Khan (including home production Happy New Year) and Akshay Kumar (including home production Sooryavanshi) are other junior heroes who all adore and love working with the man.
Fitness and more: Jackie’s obsession with fitness remains to this day, though as a Gujarati, he loves his Gujarati snacks too. When we once met at a five-star restaurant, the order is placed in this typical Shroff-like way: “Jo bhi health ke liye accha hai, de do, samjhi (Whatever is good for health, get it, understand?).” The waitress had no choice but to return his charming smile! Here, clearly, lies the font of his children Tiger’s and Krishna’s fitness freak personae.
The emotional one: Emotions, however, sum up this hunky ex-model. When this writer predicted big-time for his son at the success party of Tiger’s second film Baaghi, his reaction was instant tears and a break in his voice when he thanked me. As he had put it earlier to me, “Aditya (Chopra) called me and said that he needed me for the emotions in Dhoom:3. The film had everything – stars and action and grandeur – but he knew that without emotions, it would not work!”
Family credo: Jackie always felt that none of his children would follow him in his profession. “He wants to be a professional footballer as he is very good in it!” he had told me once about Tiger. Because of this, he learnt that Tiger had signed his first film, Heropanti, only when his son came home one day and told him that he was doing Sajid Nadiadwala’s film. “I saw Heropanti only when the film’s team saw it – till then I had not seen even an inch of him on screen,” smiled Jackie with pride.
He went on, “I am happy that Tiger has absorbed the values we have taught him. He’s a respectful lad. Like me, he knows that we have to be good with all. We must respect a driver as much as a country’s president! Human beings are human beings!”
The stud on-screen: Once, in a frank and naughty mode, he had pointed out, “By the way, I was the first to begin an epidemic of kissing. I have kissed my heroines in nine films, from Madhuri Dixit, Kimi Katkar, Juhi Chawla and Sonam to others, till I finally told my directors, Ab bas bhi karo (Now stop this)!”
The man of music: A huge fan of old Hindi film music, he had a special rapport with his first film’s composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal. “I would go for parties and Ganpati celebrations to Laxmi-ji’s house,” he recollects.
The dog-lover: The actor is also a dog-lover and in March last year, donated an ambulance to a Lonavala-based animal shelter in memory of his late pet dog, Rocky.
The businessman: And last but not the least, Jackie and wife Ayesha Shroff jointly owned a 10 percent share in Sony Entertainment Television from the time of its launch in 1995 until 2012.
Missing a Few: Among his key shelved films were Kurbani, a remake of Feroz Khan’s 1980 blockbuster, in which Jackie was to reprise Amrish Puri’s role, a remake of Pretty Woman in 1991 co-starring Sridevi, and a home production, Kanishka, inspired by The Poseidon Adventure.
Also Read: Sikandar Kher and Jackie Shroff to collaborate for Harman Baweja’s new web-show titled Chidiya Udd
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