Among the many films that catapulted Jackie Shroff to stardom, there is also a memorable public service advertisement he filmed in 1998/99 to raise awareness about the central government’s polio eradication mission.
Although the original ad was effective in spreading its message, the filming experience was anything but smooth for Jackie, who struggled significantly with the dialogues, which were written in raw Hindi.
Years later, a behind-the-scenes (BTS) video of the shoot went viral on social media, highlighting not only Jackie’s challenges with the lines but also his humorous reactions to his mistakes, often peppered with curses.
Since then, the Marathi expletive “maushi chi…”, which he used frequently during the shoot, has become a part of Indian pop culture.
During a recent appearance on Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, Jackie Shroff spoke about the ‘cultural impact’ of the phrase, noting that it at least helped increase awareness about polio. “Some people like it; some don’t,” said the actor remarked.
When asked if people still bring up that video, he said “yes,” adding, “I tell them, if nothing else, it at least helped people learn about polio and the importance of administering the drops to kids.”
“I tried hard (to deliver the lines). Some words are difficult to pronounce, right? That’s what happened that day. But we later created another ad, which turned out really well,” he added, emphasising that awareness should now be focused on Thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder that causes one’s body to have less haemoglobin than normal.
Jackie Shroff has since admitted that he still uses the phrase he became known for during the shoot, explaining, “I’ve been saying it since I was a teenager. I only use it on myself when I’m frustrated, as a substitute for expressions like ‘yaar… uff…'”
The 67-year-old actor was last seen in Vijay Maurya’s comedy-drama Mast Mein Rehne Ka, where he starred alongside Neena Gupta. Jackie is currently involved in the making of Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again, which features an ensemble cast including Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Ranveer Singh, and Deepika Padukone.
He is also working on Kalees’ Baby John, starring Varun Dhawan and Keerthy Suresh.
