VILLAINS GET MORE POPULAR THAN HEROES: JACKIE
Actor Jackie Shroff feels negative characters have more scope for performance and flaunting ‘killer looks’
Actor Jackie Shroff’s longstanding popularity probably stems from his detached persona and absence of affinity for any one genre. The veteran actor, who began his career with the 1983 film Hero, has played diverse roles but if he had to pick one that he enjoyed the most, it is characters with grey shades.
“Playing a villain is challenging yet fun. The best part about portraying an antagonist is you can play up as many shades as you want, to show the complex and dark side of humans. As a villain, you have more scope to experiment and get into different angles. You surprise everyone not just by your performance but also with your killer looks,” says Jackie, who played an antagonist in the actioner Saaho.
With a career spanning 37 years and over 250 films, the actor shares that he got more praise for characters with grey shades, be it Parinda (1989), 100 Days (1991) or Mission Kashmir (2000). “Over these years, I realised that villains become more popular than heroes, and that is one of the character types I’ve enjoyed working with. It also earned me a lot of praise,” he shares, before going on to quip, “Maybe my built, voice and personality make me look like a villain and I get all these compliments, but I’m definitely not like this in real life.”
Asked if he feels the portrayal of villains onscreen has changed over the years, Jackie says, “The emotions don’t change, it is just the platform for an actor that keeps changing. What has changed is that most actors are now experimenting in the negative genre. They’re getting into the zone where negative roles work best for them. Actors such as Amjad Khan, Amrish Puri, Danny Denzongpa, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Gulshan Grover have become popular for playing negative roles in the past.”
After Saaho, Jackie’s career is looking up with some interesting projects in the pipeline. The 62year-old reveals that he’s also in talks for Farhan Akhtar’s next. “I’ve signed three films that I’ll be starting soon — two Hindi and one Tamil. It’s an exciting phase for me as I’ve been doing all kinds of roles and I just want to work till I die,” he adds.