Apna bhidu’s apnapan

Why do we love to love Jackie Shroff Why are his recipes for perfectly ordinary dishes like bhendi fry and baingan ka bharta though that one has a fine twist so compelling so beloved The answer lies partly in his colourful Bombay personality his bhiduness But in preserving the style and vernacular of how and where he grew up its largehearted larger than life commitment to everyday enjoyment he speaks to our longing for belongingI saw a video of Waheeda Rehman and Jackie Shroff at the recent screening of Guide Dapper in black Shroff holds a potted plant like itrsquos a Botega clutch to Waheeda Rehmanrsquos mystification Itrsquos a familiar sight to Jackie followers Thirty years of Khalnayak premiere of a film friendrsquos sonrsquos wedding he is there with the potted plantA giggle bubbles up at the sight At the same time it conveys absolute sinceritymdashone we have seen in his consistent and earnest ldquobachon ka future hai bhidurdquo messages of environmental consciousnessThis flamboyant comicseriousness is present in many of his storiesmdashfor instance when he recounts Dev Anand offering him the second lead in Swami Dada Dev sarsquoab being the hero obviously A fortnight later he calls to say that Mithun Chakraborty has given dates so Jackie has been demoted to Shakti Kapoorrsquos henchman Jackie adds after seeing what all the hero had to domdashdance act fightmdashI though itrsquos better not to be the hero re baba pura load hai Sidey hi theek hairdquoThese hilarious tales are not selfdeprecating as much as a way of seeing life as an utterly adventurous tale in which one is part of a remarkable cast of characters ldquoPeople experimented with me a lot because I donrsquot differentiate between lead roles and smaller roles I feel like if Irsquom a part of a film thatrsquos more importantrdquo About wondering how to play a scene in Rangeela I thought Rahman sir mera background kar rele Irsquove a good cameraman a good storymdashwhy take myself so seriously ldquoMarne ke scene mein marneka nahinrdquoAlso read Zeenat Aman recalls childhood memories reveals pet names given by Dev AnandWhen anchors ask Jackie Shroff ldquohow did you develop this bhidu languagerdquo one cringes not at their elitism but at their provinciality their disconnection from a world beyond their ownShroffrsquos idea of work as a collective exercise and life too emphasises a sense of connection a cosmopolitan apnapan uncommon in a time where people are at pains to put themselves in the centre of every story where social media pushes each person to think of themselves as a brandJackie Shroffrsquos Instagram pageapnabhidu would give any influencer bhari sadma It is entirely random He has not succumbed to putting up weekly recipe videos after the viral kadipatta anda recipeGanpati public events branded content mdashitrsquos all there in no order He is least bothered it would seem and utterly confident of his own intrinsic glamour ldquoEveryone has swag bhidurdquo he has told one interviewer and he seems to believe thatTo belong so much to oneself also enables great comfort with the idea of belonging with others Itrsquos far less lonely to see oneself as part of a collective whether film crew or Nature itselfFor those now reared to see everyone as competition or threat and so made alone itrsquos that longing for connection fulfilled through Jackie Shroffrsquos bindas videosParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycom