Jackie Shroff says other actors turned down Chunnilal in Devdas before he took it

Veteran actor Jackie Shroff has opened up about how he landed the part of Chunnilal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. Speaking in a recent interview, he said the role reached him only after several other actors had said no to it.

The topic came up when a woman in the audience told him she had watched the film five times. Shroff explained that the actors first approached felt the film belonged fully to Shah Rukh Khan, who played the title role. As he put it, they complained that their own character's name was nowhere in the picture, since the film was called Devdas. "So, when nobody accepts the role, it comes to me, and I said, 'Yes, I'll do this role,'" he recalled.

Shroff said he saw plenty of reason to agree. Madhuri Dixit was part of the film, and his character ruled the brothel linked to her role, Chandramukhi. He asked the makers what else the part offered and was told there was one song for him along with his dialogues. After going through his lines, he said it did not matter even if he showed up only around the interval, because simply standing on screen was enough to get noticed.

He then turned to the fan with a playful question, asking whether she had spotted him in the film. Shroff added that he has no problem picking up parts that others pass on. "When nobody accepts the role, they come to me, and I don't mind," he said.

Devdas, a period romantic drama, reportedly also starred Aishwarya Rai as Paro and opened in theatres on July 12, 2002. According to reports, Shroff also used the conversation to thank Dev Anand for spotting him and giving him a small part as a henchman in Swami Dada (1982), and Subhash Ghai for his big break as a leading man in Hero (1983). He reportedly said the film's famous flute tune helped make him a star, and that tune was later reworked for his son Tiger Shroff's debut, Heropanti (2014).

Shroff was reportedly last seen in The Great Grand Superhero. His horror film Kaali Kheti is said to be due for release on October 23, 2026.