Rumi Jaffery Recalls His Close Connection With Jagdeep

“When  I  heard Jadgeep Saab had left us, it felt  like I had lost  an elder in  my own family.  Though we were  not related I shared a very long and deep bond with Jagdeep Saab and later his  sons Jaaved , Naved and  their wives. In fact  recently  I went   for  a meal to their  place and Jagdeep Saab remembered  our long association so affectionately. 

I met Jagdeep Saab  for the first time when at the age of 18  I  came from my  home town Bhopal  to Mumbai to attend a wedding. I dropped in  to meet Jagdeep Saab as a fan. I could  never forget his kindness and generosity. Not  only did he ask about me and  made me feel comfortable, he lent me his  apartment  in the building named Gildana on 29^th Road Juhu for me to  stay in. ‘Kitna pyara bachcha hai. Kahan pe  thehre ho? Kiske saath  aaye ho?’  He asked me  a hundred  questions. Such  generosity is  never  forgotten when it comes to you when you are  just starting out in life,”  says Rumi emotionally.

Rumi shared close ties with  Jagdeep  until the latter’s death on June 8. “In fact he did his last two films Life Partner and Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai  with me. By then the work for Jagdeep Saab had  almost stopped. I remember how happy he  was  to be back on the sets  for Life Partner. And he kept expressing his happiness.”

 Rumi faced opposition from his own team in  casting Jagdeep.  “And  there  was a reason for  it. Years  ago I had  written the  dialogues for a  Film called Pehla  Pehla  Pyar. It required a cameo appearance  by a comic actor. Asraniji  was  supposed  to do  the role . But he couldn’t make  it.There  was  no time and we  approached  Jagdeepji. He asked us why we had approached him so late when the shooting was  just hours away. One  of  my team members  blurted out that Asranji  had left us and since Jagdeepji was not doing any films… Bas, that  was  it, Jagdeep Saab  refused the role saying, “Dilip Kumar Saab is also  not doing any films. Why don’t you offer it to him?”

 Since this incident Rumi’s  producers were wary of signing  Jagdeep. “Until I  directed my own film. Then  I had to sign him . It was an old debt I had to repay. He was so  good  in both Life Partner and  Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai.Jagdeep Saab was  such a  warm  human being and such a  fine actor. He was capable of  a lot more than Soorma Bhopali.  In fact  he started as  serious actor. Not many know that  Jagdeep Saab was  cast  as Birju  , Nargisji’s  rebellious son in Mother India.  They even shot  the  film with him.But somehow director Mehboob Khan felt  Jagdeep Saab  wasn’t getting  the  expressions right. That’s  how they replaced  him with Sunil Dutt Saab.”