Jaggu Dada---The Annadaata!!!

Ali Peter John

Jaikishan Shroff was born the second son of a middle class Gujarati astrologer father and a home keeper Nepali mother in the Walkeshwar area of  South Bombay in a chawl close to the the Raj Bhavan, which was a striking contrast to all the rich bungalows and building all around, a striking contrast for any young man to grow up with a complex. Jaikishan and his elder brother, Hemant were two young men who were apparently affected by this contrast and grew up in an atmosphere where might was right and very soon they were names to fear in the area, names which were taken with awe in homes and names that made parents make sure that their daughters came home before sunset because of the fear of the two brothers prowling around, names which had already made it to the crime registers of the nearby police stations. Then one day Hemant is said to have been found dead under highly mysterious circumstances and that changed the entire world for Jaggu Dada...

Jaggu had only one source of hope and light and that was his lady love, Aayesha, but he knew that he would not be able to marry her or even be a very good friend because of the difference in the way they had grown up, but Aayesha proved that love knew no barriers and continued to love her Jaggu, who wanted to turn over a new leaf in his life after Hemant's death. He told Aayesha and all his friends in his area that he needed a job desperately, but the only qualifications he had were good physique and his dashing good looks. Aayesha and some of his friends asked him to try his luck as a model, but it was not so easy, he realised and took up sundry jobs in the Flora Fountain and Fort areas and it was Kailash Surendranath, the son of the veteran singer Surendranath,a contemporary of K.L Saigal, who got him his first break as a model.

It was his ad for Charminar cigarettes that shot him into the LimeLight. His large and striking hoarding where the hoarding of Dev Anand's hoarding were usually put up caught the attention of Dev himself, who sent for him and gave him a bit role in his film “Swami Dada" which was a multi starrer of sorts in which he had to just sit it in a corner of a stable full of the best breed of horses, with no dialogue and only with his looks and his eyes to speak for him.

That one look changed the appearance of his future. Subhash Ghai couldn't afford the prices of the star-sons like Kumar Gaurav, Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol and defied himself and dared to sign Jackie Shroff, bit-role player as the hero of “Hero". Jackie zoomed to stardom and within months, he had shifted from that one room in Walkeshwar to Le Papillion, one of the most posh and expensive apartments in Bandra close to the Mt Mary church. He was a star. He was one of the richest men in the City. He had all that money could buy, but he still spoke the language of Walkeshwar, he still slept on a mat or on the floor and still wore a simple lungi and a simple white baniyaan at home. He had a huge staff working for him, but it was difficult to differentiate between the boss and his staff.

He knew of only one luxury and that was cars. He got for himself the best cars and had contacts with leading industrialists and even former maharajas who who had the same passion for cars and even with the mechanics at  the Fr Agnel's Technical Institute near where Rekha's bungalow stands and where Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Mannat' stands now. This was the institute and its mechanics with whom he spent most of his free time working with and discussing the latest developments in the world of cars. It was this passion for cars that made him take his little son Tiger on long drives on some of his latest cars and even made him hold their steerings when he was only two or three years old and who he gave control of some cars when Tiger was only 6 years old....

Jackie had made more money then he could have ever dreamt of and spent days and nights thinking of what he could do to spend his money in a more meaningful way. He struck upon an idea of going out all on his own with some of his very close friends and find out the genuinely deserving poor, hungry, downtrodden and needy in the slums and on the streets and try to help them. He formed his own team. He worked out an idea of his own. He would drive ahead in his own car and find out all those he felt needed help.A truck carrying good food, clothes, fruits, medicines and other necessities of life would follow him. He would talk to the people and ask his team headed by man like David and Anis Sabri to take charge and control of every case and see that the proper help would be provided to as many needy people as possible...

Within a matter of months, Jaggu Dada was known as the Annadaata and the hungry, the hopeless and the homeless looked forward to the coming of Jaggu Dada, the Annadaata, just like people of any age used to look forward to the Messiahs of their time.

However like they say all good things don't last long. Jaggu Dada is said to have soon found out that his own people were leading him in all the wrong ways. All the help that was going out in his name was not reaching the right people and the right places. He felt thoroughly cheated and humiliated and he finally  is said to have called off what could have been one of the most humanitarian movements of one man who Rose from nowhere and formed a movement to give till it hurts, a movement which would be compared to a certain extent to the movement of Mother Teresa and other great movements.

I have learnt from some reliable sources that Jaggu Dada continues with his good work of giving and has even passed on the baton to his loving son, Tiger Shroff and I hope the son can stand tall and smile the smile of peace seen on his fathers face even at this stage when he has crossed 60 and has the stamina and the spirit of a young man who has just begun standing on the threshold of life.

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