Kyon Ki... Jackie is not just a hero
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Jackie Shroff is a man to look out for. Catch up with him in Rituparno Ghosh's "Antar Mahal" releasing this Friday.
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I would have been a fool had I rejected his offer
PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT
LENDING A HELPING HAND Jackie Shroff plays an offensive zamindar in "Antar Mahal" but defends the cause of the needy in real life.
Two years ago in Delhi, actor Naseeruddin Shah came to attend a programme staged by an organisation working for the cause of spastic children. The presence of the actor prompted media to rush and interview him. Shah felt deeply embarrassed and declared, "I admit that we actors are over paid and over-privileged. Standing here, I feel dwarfed in front of the people of this organisation who have been working for those in need silently for 25 years. Please don't highlight me. Highlight those who deserve it."
We have Shah. Then we have a man like Jackie Shroff, now ready to woo us all with Priyadarshan's "Kyon Ki... ", releasing this Diwali. There are very few like him in the film industry. He feels at ease at such places. In fact, he feels "at home with them". An open secret in Bollywood, Shroff is dedicated to the cause of street children, from a cobbler to a tea vendor. These small vendors in his area have his mobile number. They call him whenever they need him and `Jaggu Dada' or `Tiger' as he is known by his nickname, reaches out; quite like in his films. It saves him from the "inner conflict". Though the "inner conflict" that is portrayed in his latest film "Antar Mahal" is of a different kind. Shroff has worked for the first time in a Bengali film. And with director Rituparno Ghosh. In the film that was shown at the London Film Festival this week, Shroff plays an aged zamindar who marries twice. Roopa Ganguli and Soha Ali play his two dominating and submissive wives, respectively.
Bollywood hasn't been churning out best of roles for an aging actor like him. And Ghosh's films "Chokher Bali" and "Bariwali" that Shroff saw, evoked a desire to work with him. "I would have been a fool had I rejected his offer. Bengal has given us stalwarts like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, so it was the best opportunity for me," Shroff says.
Learning Bangla
"They (Bengalis) are very organised, stoic and unhurried ones. Working there was like cooking biryani on a slow fire. There was no mad rush though we completed the film in 30 days." For Bengali accent and body language, Shroff mingled with commoners and learnt the accent in "Roman script". The only "inner conflict" that a very shy Shroff underwent was in a love scene with Soha.
"She is much younger than me and I was feeling very embarrassed to enact the scene. I have a huge physique and loud voice but inside I am a sheep. I feel very uncomfortable doing such scenes. But to the great credit of Soha, she turned out to be a great professional and without any crudity we shot the scenes," says Shroff.
Working in his film has changed Shroff's attitude too. "Now I would like to work in films where an aging man is not reduced to insignificant character roles." And hence, a lawyer in "Divorce", a stage actor in Anupam Kher's next film, a ghost in "Bhoot Uncle" and a frustrated husband in "Mera Dil Leke Deko", are roles he has selected to play.
And back to his works for the needy, he is on the threshold of building a home for abandoned senior citizens and children in Khandala. "I want to show them what life is," he concludes.
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