This actor ate food full of rat and cockroach filth, lived under a bridge, sold soap and combs, his luck changed when PM sent…, he is…

India.com

07-05-2025

This actor was a rare gem in the history of Indian cinema and spread the brilliance of his acting on the silver screen. But his early life was so bad and full of suffering that you will shudder to know about it. His condition was such that he was forced to eat food dropped on the road. That too food which had rat and cockroach filth in it. Nobody helped this actor in his difficult times. Out of helplessness, he slept under a bridge, and thieves and robbers helped him.
This actor went on to become a big star of Hindi cinema. His son is also a great dancer and actor today. Do you know which actor we are talking about? This actor closely witnessed the riots and violence in trains during the partition of India and Pakistan. He saw hundreds of people getting killed before his eyes. This is actor Jagdeep, who became famous as Surma Bhopali in 'Sholay'. He started his career in films as a child artist, but this journey was full of difficulties. Jagdeep suffered a lot from a very young age, about which his son Javed Jaffrey told 'Rediff' in 2021.
Javed Jaffrey had told that his father Jagdeep lived on the streets after coming to Mumbai. Jagdeep was from a rich family. His father was a lawyer for the Maharaja of Datia (near Gwalior). Jagdeep was the youngest of 10 siblings. But suddenly, one day his father died. Jagdeep was seven to eight years old then. His mother took him to Karachi and started living there.
But after the partition of India and Pakistan, Jagdeep and his mother came to India. But during this time, the riots that happened and trains full of dead bodies were coming to India… Jagdeep saw all this with his own eyes. Javed Jaffrey had mentioned this. After coming to India, Jagdeep and his mother had to live on the streets. They sold all the things and clothes they had in their bags so that they could fill their stomachs. On the other hand, their mother also used to work as a utensil washer
Gradually, that money got over. Then Jagdeep started living under the Byculla bridge in South Central Mumbai. To earn a living, Jagdeep did every small job. Sometimes he would sell soap and kites, and sometimes combs. Regarding this, Jagdeep himself said in an interview that he did not want to earn money by doing any wrong to survive. That is why he started selling goods on the road.
When Jagdeep and his family had no money left and were on the verge of dying of hunger, they would eat bad food. Javed Jaffrey had said that a baker used to sell the pieces of bread fallen on the floor for one paisa. Jagdeep and his family had to eat that. But before eating, they had to remove the dirt of rats and cockroaches from the pieces.
Javed Jaffrey had said that no one helped his father in that difficult time. But some drunkards and thieves used to help Jagdeep. That is why he considered him a good person. Jagdeep was given his first chance in films by B.R. Chopra. The film was 'Afsana' in which he was a child artist. After this, Jagdeep never looked back and kept doing whatever small roles he got. Jagdeep did such a good job in the film 'Panchhi Ek Daal Ke' that even India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was impressed by him. Nehru was so happy that he even gave his personal staff to Jagdeep.