He started his career with ‘Hero’ and did a number of roles that were macho, mostly gun-toting cops, street-smart taporis and tough guys who occasionally did cry. Over the years Jackie Shroff’s presence on the big screen waned, and he was last seen playing a godman in a sort-of-biopic. We heard stories of his battle with the bottle, his whimsical nature in his small screen appearances and various theories on why he wore his head covered in a colourful bandanna all the time. Now comes a shocker – Jackie Shroff, all-male, studsy, girl-magnet, et al, told a website that he is gay. The site claims that the actor was chatting casually with a coterie of journalists and told them that he prefers men, “a natural feeling”, he said, which developed fairly recently; all through the 80s and 90s he was attracted to women, but that has now changed, it is reported.
Jackie apparently wept as he insisted he would be moving abroad without his family, to somewhere that his sexual orientation would be respected as he did not have faith in the Indian society and its way of dealing with homosexuals. The actor married longtime girlfriend Ayesha Dutt in 1987. The couple have two children. Interestingly, Jackie’s son Tiger will soon be launched in Bollywood by Aamir Khan. We wait to hear Jackie’s official statement on this issue and to find out whether the website is next heard of in court.
