Jagdeep
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It has been one gloomy year for Bollywood as we lost so many amazing and precious actors in the past few months. The void only gets bigger as veteran actor Jageep breathed his last yesterday. He was known for his iconic role of Soorma Bhopali in ‘Sholay’ but before that, he had been through a lot of struggle that his actor-son Jaaved Jaaferi had shared in an interview a few years ago.

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In an interview with Zoom TV, Jaaved spoke about Jagdeep’s struggle and how he learned from all of it. “He was thrown on the street at the age of 9, 10. Coming from a good household, a good family from someplace in Gwalior and then suddenly coming to Mumbai and then on the street, on a footpath living under a bridge with his mother. I got that and how he met the people and how filmmakers were then. Because there was no father, the father-figures for him were Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, K Asif, Mehboob Khan and they used to talk to him like an adult because my father was very matured at that age also. So, all that he absorbed, he passed it on to us. So, the whole thinking aspect was so amazingly Indian,” Jaaved shared.

Jaaved further added that his father was the best child actor in the business. “In my opinion, he was the best child actor I have seen in Hindi cinema till now and I don’t exaggerate. If I look at his work as a child actor, it just flows so naturally. Look at a film like Do Bigha Zamin, look at him as shoe shine boy, look at Aar Paar. And you see that this kid is crying real, there is no glycerine, which is another amazing thing about him, he can cry. As a child he is crying real tears with the scene. So, for me, that was amazing. And then he passed it on to me, to us. And for me that was important.” 

Jagdeep passed away on July 8. The 81-year-old actor breathed his last around 8:30 pm at his Bandra residence.

Also Read: Jagdeep’s Last video: Late actor nailing his Soorma Bhopali dialogue will leave you teary-eyed