Jackie Shroff on the best phase of his career, being proud of all that his kids have achieved and reuniting with buddies Sanjay Dutt and Manisha Koirala after 20 years
Hiren Kotwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 4, 2019)

In the Hindi film industry, there are few things as consistent as the unassuming side of Jackie Shroff. When asked how he picks roles today, the 62-year-old actor shrugs, “Pehle dost aate the... A cameraman’s assistant would ask for help, entreating, ‘It’s just two days work, meri life ban jaayegi.’ On occasions, Subhash ji (Ghai) would ask for 10 days and you can’t say ‘no’ to the boss and at times a subject like (Mahesh Bhatt’s) Kaash would come along and I’d do it. So, I did films for friends, for the production house, even for money and that’s still the case today.”

He is just as matter-of-fact when taking stock of his career, pointing out that he can fit in anywhere, from the terrorist in Mission Kashmir to the intelligence chief in Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW), from the aiyaash in Devdas to the superstar in Rangeela. “It doesn’t matter if the role is big or small, whether I’m named first in the credits or second. I didn’t care for these things,” he asserts and you recall how often he’s played the hero’s elder brother or best friend. “I never wanted to upstage anyone. Doosre ka pair kaat ke apun lamba banne ka kya matlab hai?”

But wouldn’t things have turned differently if he wasn’t quite so accommodating, you wonder, and he informs that his character in RAW was inspired by the agency’s founder-director RN Kao. “The current RAW chief praised my performance. What more do I want?” Jackie exults, adding with a smile that even South supermo Rajinikanth played his younger brother in Uttar Dakshin. “Sab mere chhote bhai bante the. I’m a Turkish Gujarati, so my bone structure is a little bigger, even Anil’s (Kapoor) face is small.”

In his next, Prassthanam, Jaggu plays Raghu, the royal guard. The film reunites him with the film’s producer and lead actor Sanjay Dutt and actress Manisha Koirala after 20 years. Their last outing was Kartoos. “There was a free flow of energy because for us, it was like picking up from where we had left off. Even though the industry is a small world sometimes it takes years for friends to meet and working together takes even longer. We love each other intensely but don’t need to say it aloud. Ishq ka zyada izhaar karo toh kharaab ho jaata hai,” he maintains.

Over the years, Jackie has acted in around 13 languages, from Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Oriya and Bengali to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Konkani, and considers the present to be the best phase of his career. “My son (Tiger Shroff) is the youngest action hero in the world and I’m known as Tiger ka baap today. After doing 220 films, I’m known as Tiger ka baap,” the proud father beams, adding, “My daughter Krishna is running her gym, interesting roles are coming my way, what can be better than this?”

Considering that his daughter has assisted on films, why isn’t she pursuing a career in films? “Salman (Khan) wanted to make a film with her, many others also asked, but my daughter is not interested in an acting career,” he signs off.