Jackie Shroff birthday special: Iconic roles that defined his career
With over 200 films in at least 13 languages, Jackie Shroff is surely one of the most popular Indian actors of all time. His popularity came with Subhash Ghai's 1983 film Hero, which was his second film after his debut in Dev Anand's 1982 flick Swami Dada. On his 66th birthday today, here are six iconic roles of Shroff that shaped his career.
Jackie Dada/Jai Kishan in 'Hero'
The second film in Shroff's career is what brought him popularity. Impressed with his acting in Swami Dada, Ghai offered him the leading role in Hero. Seen in a double role, Shroff was cast opposite Meenakshi Seshadri. Shroff donned messy long hair and a bandana along with opened shirts that exposed his hairy chest. His look from the film became iconic.
Kishan in 'Parinda'
In Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1989 film, Parinda, Shroff was offered the second lead. Shroff's character Kishan was initially offered to Anil Kapoor. However, the latter was willing to play the younger character Karan, and that's how it landed with Shroff. Not only did Shroff win an award for his role but Parinda was also sent as India's official entry to the Oscars.
Shiva Sathe in 'Gardish'
While Priyadarshan has gained popularity as a filmmaker who delivers some of the finest comic films, he has also helmed a crime action film - 1993's Gardish starring Shroff, Amrish Puri, Dimple Kapadia, and Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran. A Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Kireedam, Gardish was a story of a constable (Puri), his son, and their middle-class family inside a chawl.
Raj Kamal in 'Rangeela'
Starring Aamir Khan and Urmila Matondkar in the lead roles, Shroff won a Filmfare Award for best actor in a supporting role for Ram Gopal Varma's 1995 film, Rangeela. Shroff played actor Raj Kamal in the film, who, similar to Munna (Khan) falls in love with Mili (Matondkar). Rangeela also marked the Hindi debut of AR Rahman as a music composer.
Hilal Kohistani in 'Mission Kashmir'
Shroff has largely played heroic characters in films. However, with Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt starrer Mission Kashmir, he was seen in an out-and-out negative character, Hilal Kohistani. His character is the head of a terrorist group; he takes away cop Inayat Khan's (Dutt) son Altaaf (Roshan) with him and brainwashes him to carry out a mission against his own people and country.
Chunnilal in 'Devdas'
In Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2002 film Devdas, which starred Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles, Shroff was seen playing Chunnilal. The small yet important character of Shroff was a friend to Khan in the film. A song was also featured on the two. Shroff brought the humor quotient to Devdas with his acting and dialogues.
