I am NOT gay: Jackie Shroff retorts (Pg 16)

'I am not gay'

Actor Jackie Shroff insists that he never spoke to anybody about being gay; feigns ignorance about it being a possible publicity stunt

Soumyadipta Banerjee

In a ploy that reeks of a possible publicity stunt, actor Jackie Shroff was trending on Twitter on Friday, after he apparently told a website that he was gay in the later phase of his career. The news soon went viral on different websites. When contacted by After Hrs, Jackie insisted that he 'is not gay' and denied that he ever spoke to anybody of being so. Jackie informed that he is shooting in Mysore and not aware of the goings on in cyber space. The source Jackie apparently spoke to could not be located.
"I want to personally find that person and beat him up. From where did they get this piece of information? Anybody who knows me wouldn't think like this in their wildest dreams," said Jackie in-between his shots.
According to Jackie, he doesn't remember speaking to anybody about his sexual preferences. "People say whatever comes to their minds. I haven't spoken like this to anybody. I don't know from where they got this information. I must have spoken about my adulation for a few male actors, but I don't think I ever meant something like that in a sexual way. In fact, I don't even recollect which conversation these guys are referring to," Jackie adds.
When Jackie was asked about his upcoming film needing some publicity, he feigned ignorance about it. "Could you tell me which film is releasing? (On being told the name of the film) Is it? But I am told that it is a regional Telugu film. So are they dubbing that in Hindi now? I am in Mysore shooting for my film and I don't have the faintest idea of all this. Can you please ask the producers if they have any idea about it," the actor says.
No talk about the film was needed, after all, it got spoken about enough on the social networking sites already.

s_banerjee@dnaindia.net