From Jaikishan to Jackie, Jaggu Dada tells it all!

Trust actor Jackie Shroff for some straight-from-the-heart talk. The actor went down the memory lane during his interaction with students at a school in Agra and revealed that he was in school when his friend changed his name from Jai Kishan to Jackie.

The actor was chief guest during the annual athletic meet of St Peter’s College in Agra on Saturday.

“For me it does not matter, what is in the name but Subhash Ghai sahab used all my three names, including Jackie Shroff, Jaggu Dada and Jaikishan, in a movie,” said Jackie.

“Apun ne chana becha, poster chipkaya, lekin naseeb aaj yahan tak le aaya (I sold grams, pasted poster but destiny brought me here). Suit pehan kar koi angrez nahi ho jata bedu’ (one cannot become English by wearing suit),” he said and revealed that he could study only till Class XI due to paucity of money.

He justified his Mumbaiya ascent. “It had been 35 long years working in Bollywood and I tried to manage all requirements. I did some movies which were for script, sometimes we have to do for honour, relationship with friends in the industry like my mentor Subhash Ghai and sometimes it’s just money or for experiments like documentaries. Paise ke liye bhi kaam karna padta hai nahi to paisa kya baap dega (we have to work for money else who will give money),” he said while defending his choice of roles.

“For every parent, success of children is reason for pride and pleasure and so do I feel seeing Tiger doing well in film industry,” he said.

He asked children to respect their parents who spent their money and energy to educate their wards. Jackie told students that he played kabaddi, kho kho in childhood but his favourite sports was football and he still loved players like Ronaldo but his favourite was Sachin Tendulkar. The actor refused to comment on the controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie ‘Padmavati’

The actor also showed concern for the smog that has enveloped New Delhi. He said that it was high time we planted trees to avert such situation. He suggested parents to train their children to plant saplings. He stressed on the health aspect and observed that students today lacked strength, which he felt during his handshakes with them. According to him, the students should be taught to admire soldiers in defence forces as they were the ‘real heroes’. Students should not waste time chasing film actors. “I was in Delhi and came across the pollution and things seem to be getting bad. It is high time that we start planting saplings for saving the environment. Plant ‘tulsi’ and instead of looking toward film actors, students should focus more on environment.”

He loved the title ‘Sultan of Swag’ given by the students.

RAJU TOMAR/HT Jackie Shroff