Shroff was on the sets of ‘Falak’ when he first saw Salman’s photographs. He picked them up, walked to Subhash Ghai, and was told no. He walked to the next director anyway.
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Actor Jackie Shroff revealed in a conversation that he helped Salman Khan aka Sallu Baba get his first film. Salman was working as an assistant director on ‘Falak’ (1988) at the time.
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, was writing the dialogues for the same film. Shroff said he saw Salman’s photographs on the sets and found him photogenic. He took the photos first to Subhash Ghai, who said no. Then he took them to KC Bokadia, who referred him to his brother-in-law.
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That is how Salman got the role in ‘Biwi Ho Toh Aisi’ (1988). “Maine Pyaar Kiya came later and turned him into a star,” Shroff told India Today. He added that both of them worked together in most of Salman’s productions for years, but that Salman has not cast him in any film for a while.
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Jackie Shroff has appeared in 250 films across multiple languages in a career spanning over four decades.
He made his debut in Dev Anand’s ‘Swami Dada’ (1982) in a small uncredited role as one of the villains. In 1983, Subhash Ghai cast him as the lead in the action-romance Hero, alongside Meenakshi Sheshadri. The film was a major success and made both stars overnight names. It was Ghai who gave him the screen name Jackie.
He went on to establish himself in the 1980s and 1990s with box office hits including ‘Andar Baahar’ (1984), ‘Teri Meherbaniyan’ (1985), ‘Aaj Ka Daur’ (1985), and ‘Karma’ (1986). ‘Karma’ was the highest-earning film of 1986. He followed it with ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Tridev’, and ‘Parinda’, all in 1989. His performance in ‘Parinda’ earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
He won two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor, for ‘1942: A Love Story’ (1994) and ‘Rangeela’ (1995). His notable roles include freedom fighter ‘Shubhankar’ in ‘1942: A Love Story’, actor Raj Kamal in ‘Rangeela’, cop Ram Sinha in ‘Khalnayak’ (1993), Chunnilal in ‘Devdas’ (2002).
His supporting role in ‘Mission Kashmir’ earned him IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2001.
In later years, he appeared in Tamil films ‘Bigil’ (2019) and ‘Jailer’ (2023), Telugu film ‘Saaho’ (2019), Punjabi film ‘Sardar Saab’ (2017), and Konkani film ‘Soul Curry’ (2017).
More recent credits include ‘Sooryavanshi’, ‘Phone Bhoot’ (2022), ‘Mili’ (2022), ‘Jailer’ (2023), ‘Baby John’ (2024), ‘Singham Again’ (2024), ‘Good Bad Ugly’ (2025), and ‘Housefull 5’ (2025).
He has received four Filmfare Awards in total.
Salman Khan made his film debut with a brief role in ‘Biwi Ho To Aisi’ (1988), before having his breakthrough with Sooraj Barjatya’s blockbuster romance ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ (1989), which won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.
In early 1990s, he starred in ‘Baaghi: A Rebel for Love’ (1990), ‘Patthar Ke Phool’ (1991), ‘Saajan’ (1991). All of them were financially successful. His career was further established with blockbuster ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ (1994), followed by ‘Karan Arjun’ (1995) and ‘Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya’ (1998).
In 1998, he appeared in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1999, three of his films ranked among Bollywood’s highest-grossing productions of the year: ‘Biwi No. 1’, ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, and ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’.
His comeback with ‘Wanted’ (2009) relaunched his box office dominance. He followed it with ‘Dabangg’ (2010), ‘Ready’ (2011), ‘Bodyguard’ (2011), ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ (2012), ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (2015), ‘Sultan’ (2016), ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ (2017), ‘Tiger 3’ (2023).
Sultan, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2016, earning Rs 623.33 crore globally. ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ crossed the Rs 500 crore mark, and ‘Tiger 3’ grossed over Rs 400 crore worldwide.
Khan started his own production company, SKBH Productions (Salman Khan Being Human Productions), in 2011. He has hosted the reality show Bigg Boss since 2010. He founded the Being Human charity in 2007 to assist underprivileged citizens throughout India.
His recent films including ‘Race 3’ (2018), ‘Bharat’ (2019), ‘Dabangg 3’ (2019), ‘Radhe’ (2021), ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ (2023) received mixed reviews. ‘Sikandar’ (2025) became one of his biggest failures.
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