Prolific director Subhash Ghai talked about introducing Jackie Shroff in the lead role in his 1983 film ‘Hero’ and what prompted him to choose a new face over working with established names.
“In my life, ever since I started writing plays, screenplays, and directing, I have understood that the power of writers and directors is much more than that of actors. I realise this fact so the beginning doesn’t matter and especially stars who have tantrums or egos, I don’t prefer to work with them,” Ghai said in an exclusive interview with ANI.
‘Hero’, is a romantic action film, which was released in 1983. It starred Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Sheshadri and marked Jackie’s debut in a lead role role.
Ghai recalled making of ‘Hero’ and introducing new face for his film in the lead role, “After ‘Vidhaata’ and ‘Karz’, I thought to make a film with new faces. I wrote a story for ‘Hero’ and started searching for a new boy and a girl.”
He continued to share how he met Jackie and said, “Jackie was introduced to me by my friend, Ashok Khanna. He brought him to my house. He told me, he is a model, meet him. My first question was, if you know how to dance, he said ‘no’, if you know singing and his reply was ‘no’, and if you know acting and his answer was ‘no’. I just loved him. I liked his honesty.”
Ghai liked the intensity on Shroff’s face, “Another thing that I saw in his face was intensity. I saw pain in his eyes that was reflection of his struggles in life. I wanted that face. I took a small video camera and gave him a dialogue. I asked him to learn the dialogue and say it at home only. But he said, I won’t be able to say this dialogue.”
Later, he reminisced about persuading Shroff to be part of his film, “I said, don’t say this dialogue, let’s chat. I started talking to him and asked, Where do you live..what your father, mother and brother do? He told me his story that how his brother was drowned in the sea while saving someone. He became serious. There were tears in his eyes. I recorded everything and at night showed the 20 minute recording to my writers, they all loved him.”
Finally, Ghai signed him for the film, as he shared, “I called him next day and told him, ‘This is the story and you are my hero’. He was shocked and said I don’t know how to act. But I said, I know you can do it.”
However, Dev Anand has already cast him for a small role in his film and Jackie was hesitant to accept his offer. Ghai shared, “He told me that I am playing a goon in Dev Anand sahab’s film. Have done shooting for two scenes and you are making me a hero. I liked his honesty and said, ‘don’t worry will speak to Dev sahab to cut the scene and if he is not ready, still it doesn’t matter and you are my hero’.”
While praising Jackie, he added, “So, this was my confidence in him because he was an honest person. There was no pretension. He is innocent.”
Ghai is a well-known director, producer and actor. His most notable works include ‘Kalicharan’, ‘Vishwanath’, ‘Karz’,’ Hero’,’ Vidhaata’,’ Meri Jung’, ‘Khal Nayak’, ‘Pardes’, ‘Taal’, among others.
