He is the son of Bollywood's once reigning star Jackie Shroff. His daredevilry is the talk of the town. But young and raring to go Tiger Shroff says that the fact that he's a "star kid" made him work twice as hard as any newcomer.
His debut film "Heropanti", for which he invested two years of labour and passion to achieve an enviable body frame and a natural fluidity in action scenes, hits the screens May 23.
Initially, Tiger was skeptical of stepping into the Hindi film industry, fearing he would be compared to his father. But good preparation and confidence have helped him through.
In conversation with IANS, the 24-year-old said: "Comparison with my father is one of the reasons why I was skeptical to get into Bollywood."
But obviously, he knew, the expectations from him would be high.
"It might be easier for us to get the first film, but the expectation is twice as much because our father had made it big. But people don't know the amount of hard work that goes into it. A star kid has to work twice as hard to surpass the expectations," he said.
Citing an example, Tiger noted how the current day and age are different from when his father was in his prime.
"I think the actors nowadays make a lot more preparations. There is a different kind of expectation and rule book that actors now follow.
"Earlier, actors used to be more carefree and do four to five films. I remember my father used to do three shifts a day, and now we focus on one film and give everything to that film.
"An actor's journey of one film is much longer than what it was back then."
Nevertheless, Tiger has no qualms when he says that he is not sure if he will ever be able to be as successful as his father Jackie, who was amongst B-Town's most sought-after stars of the 1980s and early 1990s thanks to films like "Karma", "Ram Lakhan", "Parinda" and "Khalnayak".
"He is such a cool personality, such a big personality and I am the total opposite. I am too shy and my dad is 'bindass'! We are poles apart. I don't open up in public unlike my father," he said.
Tiger, who says that his dad doesn't interfere in his career, adds that it is Jackie's goodwill that has "got me a lot of respect".
"I worked too hard for two years and tried not to take advantage of my father's name. I wanted to make my own identity and make him feel proud," said the young athletic actor, who also has a strong spiritual inclination.
Acting was not always on his mind.
"I have always been into sports. I had never thought of coming into Bollywood. I was crazy about dance...I was lost academically. I never paid attention in the class and I didn't have any qualification unfortunately.
"I was also getting a lot of offers and I thought I wanted to do a film which allows me to explore my skills and luckily, 'Heropanti' came my way," he said.
Directed by Sabbir Khan, "Heropanti" also marks the debut of Kriti Sanon.
(Uma Ramasubramanian can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)
