Dev Anand ‘demoted’ Jackie Shroff to henchman role after offering him second lead in Swami Dada: ‘Mithun Chakraborty will do it, he knows how to dance’

Shroff revealed that he was ‘scared’ about the opportunity, and he even discussed his insecurities as an actor and dancer with his mother. Fifteen days later, Dev Anand called Shroff to inform him that his role had been given to Mithun Chakraborty instead.

Rati Agnihotri and Dev Anand in Swami Dada. (Express archive photo)

“He said, ‘Woh senior hai, usse dance bhi aata hai. Tumhein Shakti Kapoor ki gang mein rakha hai (He is a senior, he knows how to dance. You will be there in Shakti Kapoor’s gang) So, I became Shakti Kapoor’s henchman. He demoted me in just 15 days,” Shroff shared, and added that he saw this as an opportunity to learn from Dev Anand and stuck with the film.

However, Jackie Shroff was signed by Subhash Ghai for Hero, which gave him the perfect launch. The romantic action drama also starred Meenakshi Sheshadri. During the interview, the actor also mentioned that in Hero, his dialogue delivery came out in Dev Anand’s style instead of Shatrughan Sinha’s, which was what Ghai wanted.