Jackie Shroff has shared the backstory behind one of his most remembered roles: Chunnilal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas. Speaking to Republic Bharat, the actor said the part came to him only after other performers passed on it because Shah Rukh Khan’s title character was the centre of the film.
Why the role was going empty
Shroff recalled that actors who were approached for Chunnilal said no for a simple reason: the film was named Devdas, and the character’s own name was not in the title. In his telling, the hesitation was not about the script but about the spotlight.
“Nobody was taking that role because Shah Rukh Khan Saab was essaying Devdas’ character,” he said.
When the offer finally reached him, Jackie took it without fuss. That instinct has become something of a pattern for the actor, who said he has never minded taking roles other people leave behind. “When nobody accepts the role, they come to me, and I don’t mind,” he added.
What Jackie saw in Chunnilal
His logic was simple and character-first. Chunnilal is closely tied to Madhuri Dixit’s Chandramukhi, and Jackie felt the part gave him a strong place in that world. He evaluated Chunnilal not against Devdas’s shadow but inside Chandramukhi’s orbit, which he said was reason enough to take the seat.
The filmmaker told him he would get one song and a set of dialogues. That was enough for him to commit:
- A rooted character: Chunnilal is a friend and confidant of Devdas, closely connected to Chandramukhi.
- A song of his own: Jackie was told there would be one song and sharp dialogues.
- No screen-time anxiety: He believed he would be visible simply by being in the frame.
A lesson in presence
After reading the lines, Jackie said he was not concerned about the length of the part. He even joked that if the role came only at the interval, he would still be seen. He later asked a fan who had watched Devdas five times if she had noticed him: “I was visible, right?”
Why the role still lands
Devdas, which released on July 12, 2002, starred Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit and remains one of Bhansali’s most widely remembered films. Chunnilal is a supporting character, but the role’s personality and Jackie’s performance have kept it alive in fan memory. For actors and film fans, the real takeaway is to evaluate a role by its world and the moments it hands you, not by where it sits on the poster.
Source: The Times of India
