By Bhaskar Tripathi

When Jackie Shroff walks into a room, you feel as if a monolith has entered. Surprising, because he isn’t all that tall. The incessant bhidu, the bhai log start as soon as he has seen the crowd, taking no time in chatting them up and then subsequently, leaving them all in splits.

His hippie, eccentric clothing is an inseparable part of the charm, as is his accessibility — which is the reason he chills with the office interns and gets into a discussion about framing him with the hired photographer, without an ounce of pretence or second thought. He is probably the only 90s film where the most outlandish plots would be a part of the big-budget mainstream, playing amongst the polished, glossed-over, inert Bollywood films of the ‘10s. A cynic would want to believe his demeanour is an act, a projection. But it becomes quite apparent when he shakes hands with you, a handshake as firm as it gets, that his is the government of cool.

How do you feel going digital?

JS: How do I feel going digital, you ask? In 1998-99, I had a website: jackieshroff.com. Whatever I saw, any photographs I clicked — it all went straight to the site. I had a camera and people could see me. We had the Internet Server Locator back then. You get a link, click on it and you are connected to the people online. That’s what I used to do; I did it when nobody even knew about these things. Shammi uncle was the first from the industry to get on the internet, I was the second one there. I used to see my kids through it, when I was shooting away. So, I’m actually very old at this and I’ve kept in sync. It feels good to be a part of this now that people are so aware. The sky has opened up. I want people to enjoy it, but not become slaves.

So you have no qualms doing a feature length digital film?

Mereko koi farq nahin padta hai, bas public dekhe khush rahe maze le, the producers make money, the media and critics support it…and it keeps moving in a hand-in-glove fashion. That’s how it rolls. You make and put a film online, it stays there; you can keep making money off of it. Theater mein toh aaye gaye. “Film” needs to be archived, while digital is less trouble. We were so careful while taking photos with film rolls. Now nobody cares! They keep on clicking dhad dhad dhad dhad…arrey kitne lega bhai? It’s become so crazy now, innit? Let’s enjoy this phase, I’m enjoying it. I was introduced to this long long ago, and I’m happy. I’d love to do a full-length film on it, it’ll be nice. Work has become easy. You can shoot wherever you want to. I like the new guys coming in, these new production houses. I really like the work that’s being done.

That’s good to know. Since medium is no bar, I’m curious if there’s any content that’s taboo for you?

I really don’t know what’s taboo and what’s not…

You can go in any direction you want, with films?

Main hawaa hoon. Take whatever you can from me, I’m here to give.

How do you choose your films, then?

Maaloom nahin. Some I did for friends, some for the script, some for the money, some to help others out; depends on a lot of factors. I don’t know how I choose them; you get these vibrations, you know. There are no rules; you can’t comprehend how your brain works with these decisions.

And, I mean, who the hell are you to choose? Remember where you were, and who you were, before all this caught up with you. Whatever feels happy and comfortable, we should do it. Enjoy the life, and forget about it. Move forward with it.

Do you know about your cult on the internet?

Swear to god, I don’t. Bhai log tum sab ko yaad kar raha hoon, mere doston mere bhidu!

You did a film called Aaranya Kaandam back in 2010, which made the film aficionados see you in a new light. It’s also a reason why you have that cult. How did you come to do that film? In fact, you’ve done Antarmahal and other films across languages, when you were not doing many Hindi films. 

The film came to me and I did it. I don’t know what I liked in the script or why I did it. It may be this strange passion that I have: of doing films in different languages. It’s quite impossible to do all the languages, but for whatever it’s worth, I have done films in over 9 languages. I’m trying to do more of them in the future, too. How come we are talking about an obscure Tamil film? How did you come to see it?

Pirated copy..

You see? Whole world is digital! We had no clue about how the film travelled so far. I’d heard Aaranya Kaandam had turned out to be great, but I didn’t know just how many people knew about it and loved it. I got another film, thanks to that film. I received a lot of praise for my performance, even got it from quarters I wouldn’t have expected from in my wildest dreams.

You are the happiest person I’ve seen in a while. How do you keep happy, given the political climate in this country and around the world?

I don’t think about it, I’m so sorry. I don’t have the understanding or knack to comprehend it all. I am not an intelligent person. Nothing’s going to come out of it, anyway. I live my life, trying to be happy and keep as many people I can happy. I try to lead a socially conscious life, helping those I can. I can’t go beyond that and I don’t want to either. People who love me do so because I am theirs to have. I feel life is right.

Where do you want to go from here?

I don’t think about it at all. I am not the thinking-planning type. I do whatever makes me happy, and I try not to intentionally offend anyone. Live happily, and depart happily without being the cause of any grief. That’s it.
See, there’s a procession! You can hear the drums and the azaan. Let’s end it at that.

Watch the short film ‘Khujli’ by Terribly Tiny Talkies — starring Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta here: