With a handshake, Senior Counsel, Bombay High Court, Darius Shroff welcomes us into a 90-year-old cottage in Juhu. We are already in love with the well-manicured garden and docile pet that hides behind a tree. "Brownie adopted us 11 years ago after being abused at the beach, but he's still petrified around strangers," he says.

Shroff was last seen in the Akshay Kumar-starrer, Gold, where he played Mr Wadia, president of the Indian Hockey Federation. "In hindsight, maybe I played him too grim," says Shroff, 68. The two films he did before this were insignificant. "Less said the better," he smiles as we enter the study scattered with period furniture. But he has thankfully had a prosperous theatre innings fuelled by opportunities from veterans Sam Kerawala, Adi Marzban and Alyque Padamsee.