From his days at Teen Batti to his former home at Le Papillon to his current home, Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff has been a huge bhakt of Lord Ganesha. “We have been celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi for many years. We do Shri Ganesh every time we start a new venture. He is the God who helps us start a new venture. I like him because he is very cute. He has a lovely nose in the form of a trunk. He has large ears which means he can listen to us all, and he speaks very less. He has a great mind to keep all the important information stored and can spread so much positive energy. Imagine if someone can listen to everything you speak and not speak much back and he is so quiet, that is the best,” smiles Jackie.
“This is a festival that all people in the colony or society celebrate. So it is great. The festival unites people from all religions too,” says Jackie who is half Hindu Gujarati, half Muslim, and his wife Ayesha Dutt Shroff being half Christian and half Hindu. “We celebrate all festivals — Diwali, Eid, Ganapati, Christmas. India is a diverse nation. So its fun to partake in everyone’s festivals. India is one country where we can enjoy everything,” says Jackie.
Ayesha is half Bengali and half Belgian (trivia buffs should note that Belgian and Bengali are anagrams). “Every festival means a festive atmosphere at home, and it is good for the mind too,” adds the Khalnayak star.
Pic: Instagram
Jackie’s earliest induction to the Ganesh festival’s festivities began during his days at Teen Batti. “During those days, Ganapati festival meant that we were going to witness the aarti, get the prasad and all of us would go to watch the films being screened every night at the Ganesh pandal. We never thought about the importance of the festival. It was always like we got a lot of energy during the festival,” he says.
That meant that Jaggu dada would also be seen dancing all the way with the idol on the visarjan day. “Yeah, they used to take me for the visarjan and I used to dance with them all the way from Teen Batti to Girgaum Chowpatty and it used to be good fun as well. As I said earlier, the festival was about energy. People should learn about harmony and peace and how to protect and help each other. The Vignaharta is about protecting from all the vighnas,’ he says.
Jaggu dada has a list of advice for all his bhidus as well. “People should not get drunk during the celebrations and indulge in fighting. This is a festival for God. Be happy and eat sweets and spread more love by helping poor people,” he says.
Jackie says that the Ganesh festival is one such time when people get to meet one another. “People don’t have time to look at their own nose in normal times. But then the festival is the only time when they can meet each other and interact and spread love. I have kept the Ganapati for a day and a half all the while,” adds Jackie.
