Jackie Shroff says Salman Khan ‘handled his clothes and boots’ as AD: ‘I was instrumental in him getting a break’
When Salman Khan worked as an assistant director on Falak, he was in charge of Jackie Shroff’s clothes and shoes. The two actors have known each other for more than three decades.
Salman Khan and Jackie Shroff’s friendship goes back a long way. Jackie has known Salman from the time he was a model and then took his first steps in the film industry as an assistant director. In fact, Jackie considers himself ‘instrumental’ in Salman getting his first break.
The two actors shared screen space in the recently-released action-thriller Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. The film, directed by Prabhudeva, also stars Disha Patani and Randeep Hooda.
In an interview with a leading daily, Jackie said about his relationship with Salman, “I have known him as a model and then as an assistant director, who handled my clothes and boots when I was shooting for Falak (1988). He used to look up to me and is like my little brother.”
“When he was an AD, I used to show his photographs to the producers I was working with. Finally, KC Bokadia’s brother-in-law gave him a break in Bollywood. It was Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) that catapulted him to stardom, but I feel that I was instrumental in him getting a break in the industry. Toh aise dosti shuru hui… well, dosti itni nahi hai ki (This is how our friendship started… Well, our friendship is not such that) we are very close, but he keeps coming up with films, aur jab bhi kuch bada aata hai toh (and whenever anything big comes up) he thinks of me first,” he added.
Salman played a police officer on a mission to rid Mumbai of its drug problem in Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, while Jackie played his boss. The film is based on the Korean film The Outlaws.
On May 13, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai got a cross-platform release, after being delayed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Within hours, it was leaked on piracy websites, prompting Salman to issue a warning. In a statement shared on social media, he warned viewers against watching it illegally or they would ‘get into a lot of trouble with the cyber cell’.
