Jackie’s unfulfilled wish to share screen with Rishi
Chintuji would always tell me, ‘Jaggu dada, I want to do a film opposite you. We’ve worked together in so many movies but never faced each other on camera.’ Him being a senior and one of the finest actors of the industry, I so wanted to act with him. This wish will never come true now. We’ve lost a precious jewel of the crown,” shares actor Jackie Shroff, who despite having worked with late actor Rishi Kapoor in films such as Azaad Desh Ke Gulam (1990), Aurangzeb (2013) and Chalk n Duster (2016), didn’t get a chance to do a single scene together. Taking a walk down the memory lane, Shroff recalls the time when he first saw Kapoor and was awestruck by his personality and aura. “I remember his film Bobby (1973) had released and he shot to fame overnight. I was hanging around the Pastry Palace in Mumbai and saw him there for the first time. I was like, ‘Wow, Rishi Kapoor!’ I wasn’t an actor then and seeing a superstar was like a fan moment for me. I never knew then, that one day, we would share such great camaraderie ,” says Shroff, 63, adding that from Kapoor’s dressing style to acting, he loved everything about him.
“I couldn’t do what he could. He would meet people with a big warm hug and was so jovial. I could always feel that affection from a senior not just for myself but for Tiger (son, Tiger Shroff) as well. We would ring up and discuss Tiger’s performance in his recent movies. Coming from him really meant a lot to me,” says Shroff. With Kapoor’s demise, he shares that the void will never be filled. “He is embedded deeply in my heart forever,” he signs off.