Jackie Shroff says he would like to see his son Tiger playing the lead if ever his 1993 film Gardish is remade.
Jackie Shroff is one actor who can still give the entire young breed a run for their money. Just a few days ago, it was announced that Jackie will be a part of John Abraham starrer espionage thriller titled Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW). This, when he is already working on Saaho and the Gujarati version of Ventilator.
The father of Tiger and Krishna Shroff has gratitude towards those who’ve loved and supported him all through. “Thank you for keeping me alive in your hearts,” he said while expressing happiness over still getting so much adulation from the cine buffs.
“Everything I’ve enjoyed doing. I just enjoy life, I enjoy every breath I take. I live every moment that God has given me, the strength and love of people to me, to my children, to my family. I feel blessed when I see around. There is so much grief around that you want to thank God and ask him to keep everyone happy,” Jackie said during an exclusive chat with indianexpress.com.
Jackie Shroff won the Best Actor Filmfare Award for Parinda.
Fondly called ‘Jaggu dada’, Jackie has been in the film business for almost four decades now, giving us blockbusters like Parinda, Gardish, Saudagar, Ram Lakhan, Khalnayak, 100 Days, Rangeela, 1942: A Love Story, Agni Sakshi and Devdas, to name a few. But what is that one role which remains closest to his heart? “King Uncle. It had a nice soft story about girl child adoption. So that film was a blessing in disguise when I did it,” he shared.
Jackie Shroff also shared his take when we mentioned how his son Tiger is slowly climbing the charts towards becoming one of the most bankable actors in Bollywood right now. Post the success of Tiger’s recent film Baaghi 2, the heartthrob has already begun shooting for his next big film – Karan Johar’s home production Student Of The Year 2.
Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani starrer Baaghi 2 has crossed Rs 150 crore mark at the box office.
Seeing his son getting so much attention, does Jackie feel any bit protective as a parent? “He is my child and I don’t want to protect him. I think the nation is giving him so much affection and love. He is protected by everybody who gives him really good vibes. Wherever I go, when people say ‘Oh, your son and his films…’ I feel so happy. Respect is everything. Nothing else matters. And my baby is being loved by little babies (laughs). So, it feels great,” he said.
Despite being a star kid, Tiger Shroff had to pave his way to stardom post his debut in 2014 film Heropanti. How does Jackie react when his son gets surrounded by questions about nepotism in Bollywood? “One should move with the tide and not worry about these things much. Why go against the tide? They may say that both father and son are in films. But that wasn’t with me. My father was an astrologer and I worked in the industry. If you don’t have any talent and you are a (star) kid, and people don’t like you or accept you, then you can’t do anything about it,” he opined, revealing that he would want Tiger to play the lead if ever his own film Gardish was remade.
Jackie Shroff and daughter Krishna at the screening of his son Tiger Shroff’s recent hit Baaghi 2.
Jackie Shroff also won the Filmfare Short Film Award for Best Actor, for the short titled Khujli, co-starring Neena Gupta. The film received praise for its appealing concept reminding us of “Fifty Shades of Grey” in a comic way. Directed by Sonam Nair and produced by Terribly Tiny Talkies, the 15-minute short film narrates the story of a middle-aged couple who try to rekindle their sex life.
Laughing out loud while sharing how it was fun shooting for Khujli, Jackie shared why he is an easy actor to work with for those who wish to cast him in short films. “I’ve been doing short films for a long time because students find me easy. I don’t ask for money (laughs), maybe I suit the character. I give them time. I respect their work. I enjoy watching the young work. They are the future of our Indian film industry,” he said.
Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta’s short film Khujli deal with a bold topic in a funny way.
Jackie Shroff has appeared in more than 220 films in eleven languages including Hindi, Konkani, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Bhojpuri. But the actor is ecstatic about finally making his Gujarati debut in the remake of award-winning Marathi film Ventilator. “That’s my 12th language work. I’ve been waiting for Gujarati to happen for 30 years now. So finally, I got a Gujarati film. It’s superb. I’m having fun. There are amazing and top actors from the stage in the film. So it’s nice to be brushing up and understanding how they work. How to pick up good things and grow as much you can. So I’m taking pointers from all these actors,” he quipped.
Jackie Shroff will play Ashutosh Gowariker’s character in Ventilator’s Gujarati remake.
The actor, who recently became the brand ambassador of Thalassemia in India, is also part of Baahubali fame Prabhas’ next big film Saaho. With initial hesitancy about revealing anything about this multi-language film, Jackie finally said, “I can’t say much. Just that, it’s a fantastic role and my director and DOP are making it look like a million-dollar film.”