Jackie Shroff made his debut in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Hero’ in 1983 opposite Meenakshi Sheshadri. But did you know he was actually was seen first on screen in a small role in ‘Swami Dada’. The actor was supposed to be seen in a full fledged role in the film but was later replaced by Mithun Chakraborty. He then, ended up in a small role in the film. But he was still elated to be a part of it.Jackie recalled during a chat with Vickey Lalwani, “Dev sahab called me at his office, ke tum aao. Then he told me Mithun Chakraborty is getting the role, he’s a dancer. Tumhare liye ek aur role hai. Shakti Kapoor ke gang mein. I said ‘wow’, Atleast I’m there in the film. Dev Sahab ka bada fan hu. Toh aisa mauka kisko milta hai. Chaali ke andar apun soch sakte hai kya? Ke Dev Sahab bolenge I’m giving you a role. I’m like ‘Kuch bhi de’. Ek peda bhi de. Ek patthar bhi haath mein dete toh sona hota.” The actor was asked about being compared to Dev Anand in his first film and the actor said he was very happy about it. He added, “Joh bhi Dev Sahab ne diya, prashad samajh ke le liya. Woh aashirwaad hi tha. Phir Subhash Ghai ne role de diya, us Dev ke aashirwad se.”Earlier, on Kunickaa Sadanand’s podcast, Shroff had said, “When Dev Sahab told me to do the role in Shakti Kapoor’s gang and villain’s den mein Shakti Kapoor ka chamcha ban gaya main (I became Shakti Kapoor’s henchman in the villain’s den). My demotion happened in 15 days, from the second lead to the third villain. I went back home and told my mother I got a villain’s role (laughs).”Jackie was living in a chawl and met Dev Anand through his son Suniel who he did acting class with during his modelling days. That’s how he got into this small role in his film ‘Swami Dada’.
