Jackie Shroff says he felt embarrassed to sign autographs ahead of anybody: ‘Shah Rukh Khan was a shining little boy, Anil Kapoor my senior’

Jackie Shroff operates on swag, not ego. The actor says he is comfortable taking a backseat and letting the audience love flow in the right direction with no insecurity when it comes to his colleagues.
Which is why Jackie said he always asked Anil Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan to sign autographs ahead of him as he knew no other way to be, despite perhaps being more popular than them during his heydays.
In an interview with ETimes, Jackie Shroff was asked about Anil Kapoor’s comment on Koffee with Karan, where the latter had opened up about how Jackie would ask his fans to take autograph of Anil first before obliging them. When pointed out that he did something similar during King Uncle, when he worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Jackie said both his co-stars are his friends first.
Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor have worked together in several films, including Ram Lakhan. (Photo: Varinder Chawla)
“I am lucky. They have been my friends – Anil is my senior, Shah Rukh junior. But for me, these things never mattered. They were my friends and my colleagues. It felt always embarrassing to sign ahead of anybody.
“Because in him (Shah Rukh) I could see a shining little boy, Anil is my senior. He could say anything that people didn’t come to him, but he is my senior. He has to sign first, then I will sign. Both are my darlings, jaan hai dono,” the actor said.
Jackie Shroff said the trio share such a strong bond that they don’t need to meet every day to remain good friends. Even if they meet after a long gap, they continue from where they had left.
“Whether we meet or not, the love is there. When we meet, we pick up from where we had left. We are like buddies. We don’t have to meet, sit and call each other for functions. When we are together, it is beautiful. It is a lovely energy.”

On Koffee with Karan, Anil Kapoor had revealed about his initial days as an actor and said that he was insecure of Jackie Shroff who was an outsider. “When I started my career at that time it was of course Sunny, there was Sanju. Jackie was an outsider in a way but still, he got the first break from Subhash Ghai.
“So, he himself became like an A-ler just with that one announcement. I, at that time, was doing bit roles. I was doing south Indian films. I did not feel good about it,” he had said.