Jackie Shroff, the much-loved Bhidu of Bollywood and fondly called Jaggu Dada celebrates his birthday today. The actor who made a smashing entry in Bollywood with Hero was launched by eminent filmmaker Subhash Ghai. The actor came from a very humble background with no knowledge whatsoever about the workings and mannerisms of Bollywood.
So for Jackie Shroff, it was a rise from dust to stardom and he has repeatedly given most of the credit to Ghai for that. During one of his interviews, the Bollywood actor recalled how he got his first movie as a hero. It was the time when Jackie was working as a model and was getting tuition for his diction from the brother of his friend Ashok Khanna.
He had already worked in a small role in Dev Anand ’s Swami Dada. But that went unnoticed. It was Ashok Khanna who showed his photograph from an advertisement with a beard to Ghai. Immediately the film director asked for a meeting with Jackie Shroff. Initially, the actor thought that he might be getting a role as a villain or a side kick but when Ghai said that he was giving him the role of a hero, the Agnisakshi actor was shocked.
Interestingly, in his first movie as a hero, Jackie got to work with legendary actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, and Amrish Puri and learned a lot from them.
It was a different place, I came from the other side of Mumbai-Jackie Shroff
His first meeting with these legends was very unique. Narrating the same Jaggu Dada said, “When I went to see them for the first time on the sets I was dressed the way I usually dress up. I was a wild teenager then. My style of dressing was wild. I was riding my bike. I parked my bike and started walking towards them. But Subhashji saw me and immediately asked the dress department to change my look.”
Suddenly from his gun jeans, sling bags, and sunglasses, Jackie Shroff was transformed into a gentleman in a kurta pyjama. That was when he realised that certain norms are to be followed in Bollywood. Earlier he was looking like a thug and now he was looking an entirely different person.
Talking about the same, the Ram Lakhan actor said that he was a very different person since he had come from the other side of Mumbai. Over the years he realised that the film industry is a big family and even now has great reverence for people like Subhash Ghai and his other friends who helped him throughout his journey in Bollywood.