Jackie Shroff

Jackie Shroff is an Indian actor and former model best known for a long Hindi-film career that began in the early 1980s and later widened into work in several Indian languages. Born Jaikishan Kakubhai Saraf in Bombay in 1957, he grew up in Mumbai's Teen Batti area and entered public life through modeling before films. His screen name, Jackie Shroff, became attached to one of Hindi cinema's most recognizable leading men of the 1980s and 1990s, a performer associated with action, romance, melodrama, and later character roles.

Shroff's first screen appearance came in Dev Anand's Swami Dada, but his real launch was Subhash Ghai's Hero in 1983. The film was a major commercial success and made Shroff an overnight star opposite Meenakshi Sheshadri. During the rest of the decade he worked steadily in commercial Hindi cinema, appearing in films such as Andar Baahar, Teri Meherbaniyan, Karma, Ram Lakhan, Tridev, and Parinda. Parinda was especially important for his reputation as an actor; his performance earned the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and helped confirm that he could do more than conventional star vehicles.

In the 1990s, Shroff remained a major screen presence, shifting among lead, ensemble, and supporting roles. His filmography from the period includes Saudagar, Khalnayak, 1942: A Love Story, Rangeela, Agni Sakshi, Border, and Bandhan. He won Filmfare supporting-actor honors for 1942: A Love Story and Rangeela, and his work in those films helped sustain his profile as younger stars entered the industry. Unlike many actors identified with one era, Shroff adapted by accepting negative, comic, paternal, military, and mentor roles in later decades.