Flashback: Jackie Shroff

Flashback 2005: My first week at my first job at Downtown Plus at the Times of India Building in Mumbai. I was tasked to get a celebrity for the cover. We had heard there was a celebrity cricket match at Hindu Gymkhana on Marine Drive. Pradeep Chandra, our photographer colleague and I went there. I chatted with Suniel Shetty, Ritesh Deshmukh and a few others. They were okay with the interview and pictures but did not want to change their sponsored cricket t-shirts. We waited a little and Pradeep spotted Jackie Shroff. They've known each other since the early 1980s. He spoke with Jackie and then introduced me to him. I chatted with him and requested him for the shoot. "After the inauguration, we can go to my old house in Walkeshwar." We waited and I watched some of Jackie's fangirls. We followed him into his waiting Mercedes: Jackie and driver in the front, Pradeep and me along with two other people at the back. We chatted a little as we coasted down Marine Drive. At his old home, Jackie walked us around the dilapidated structure and even touched the feet of the old neighbour. Great shots! We thanked him for his time and I asked the two other people in the car who they were. One was the actor's assistant. The other, it turned out, was a fan who just hitched a ride in a celebrity's car because he wanted to reach Walkeshwar! Jackie thought he was with us. I thought he was with him.