Rajni & Dirty Politics

The actor dishes out nuggets on organic farming & his upcoming films, including one in Punjabi
Between delectable bites of soft idli brushed with coconut chutney, uthapams peppered with red chillies, buttered toast and half-fry egg white omelette tossed in green chillies and curry leaves, and cups of palette cleansing green tea, actor Jackie Shroff strikes a scrumptious conversation. A breakfast meeting is what he prefers, and picks the sunniest spot at Taj Chandigarh’s Club Lounge that overlooks a lush green patch from its fifth floor. “We have such crazy working hours, and it really doesn’t work if we are not early risers or follow a routine,” says Shroff, looking dashing in a pair of Jodhpurs teamed with a neon white kurta and his trademark scarf around his neck. He sure is the original “style bhai” and the salt and pepper hair and beard only compliment him.
It’s been a crazy year, he shares. “Lot of work and travel,” he counts Hindi films on the anvil including Dhoom 3 and Aurangzeb, one with south Indian actor and director Revathi, Dirty Politics with KC Bokadia, Rajnikanth’s period epic drama Kochadaiyan, a film with Karan Bhutani (he was Tigmanshu Dhulia’s assistant director) and another one with Rahul Mitra, (producer of Sahib, Biwi aur Gangster). But the one that is making news here is his Punjabi debut, in Sameep Kang’s Lucky Di Unlucky Story. “I play a businessman who is after something that has been taken from him. He is quite a grey character,” says Shroff, who has been increasingly experimenting with regional cinema. “I am like a parrot. I listen and spill the dialogues out verbatim, although the toughest language for me was Malayalam. Now, I am waiting to do an Oriya and Nepali film.” If it is not movies, then Shroff’s other consuming passion involves working on an 18 acre film city in Gujarat and organic farming. In fact, he is on his way to Dehradun to meet up with environmentalist Vandana Shiva who is into organic farming. “With her help, my farmer friend Ramesh Dhebe and I will experiment on a patch of land in Mahabaleshwar,” says Shroff, who has also introduced Aamir Khan to it. “I think Aamir did a fabulous job with Satyamev Jayate. We all talk, but who comes up with a solution. The fertilisers have killed our soil, even bees are nowhere to be seen. How will cross- pollination happen? We need to do something at our level for we need to leave a healthy legacy for our children.” It’s hard not to agree with him.