Diwali 2018: Jackie Shroff scoured the streets for unburnt crackers

Celebrating the festival of lights for Jackie Shroff includes indulging in sweets, playing cards and hobnobbing with the glitterati. It also means distributing sweets at shelter homes and orphanages, and propagating protecting the environment.

"Baad mein baithke roneka nahi — pollution ho gaya. Ho gaya toh jhaad lagaa do (Don't sit and cry later that there's pollution. Or hurry to plant trees)," he says in his quintessential Jaggu dada style.

This is a far cry from the Diwali of his childhood when he would rummage through used crackers of the rich to try and score some unburnt ones.

"My first memory of Diwali is hiding under the bed in our home in Teen Batti (Malabar Hill, Mumbai), as I was scared of firecrackers," he reminisces, "My mom (Rita Shroff) would fight with the chaali ke log (residents of the chawl) to protect me. When I became a teenager, I would sit on our chhapra (rooftop) to look at the sky light up with colourful sparks. We had no money to buy crackers, so my friends and I would scavenge the streets for them. The rich kids would burst the 10,000-ladi and there would be at least 100 unburnt ones, which we would have a blast with, literally (laughs)."

Shroff's father, Kakulal Harilal Shroff, was an astrologer for Dhirubhai Ambani and his brother Nattubhai Ambani, and the family would send them sweets.

"That was my Diwali as a kid — getting sweets from influential families and bursting salvaged firecrackers," he says, without a hint of bitterness.

As he grew up, Shroff began losing interest in celebrating the festival too. "I guess, it's because I was maturing," says the actor, "I started thinking more about how my parents were looking after me and that I had to take care of them. I lost my brother Hemant when I was quite young, so I think I lost my childhood somewhere there. At that point, the festival was just another holiday. We'd have a pooja at home in the morning and that was it. There were no other celebrations."

His colleagues, and one-time movie buddy Anil Kapoor's is the first filmi Diwali party he attended. He remembers how Sunita, Kapoor's spouse, decorated the house beautifully, making it festive and fragrant. "Everyone was dressed to kill," he remembers, "Even now, celebrations are about going to a party because it's a big thing in the film industry. There's music, sweets, playing cards, and friends and colleagues under one roof. Still, my childhood days of scavenging for firecrackers had its own nashaa (charm). It was like winning the lottery."

These days, he's more concerned about celebrating it responsibly. "Ayesha sends sweets to shelter homes and orphanages," he says, talking about the tradition his wife has taken over from his mother. "Feed the poor, keep the air clean, and enjoy music and food is how I believe in celebrating the festival now. If you burst firecrackers, don't forget to plant a tree, especially a tulsi plant, because the pollution is unbelievable and it's your duty to decrease it."