JIMMY SHERGIL
"I Am Here To Stay"

Jimmy Shergil is here... and he is here to stay.

His disastrous start with an art film like the Desh Deepak helmed Jahan Tum Le Chalo taught Jimmy a lesson.
The film had music by Gulzar and lyrics by Vishal Bharadwaj and the cast spoke of Nirmal Pandey and Sonali Kulkarni.
Nothing happened.

He had a better response with his debut film Maachis where he had a shorter but noticeable role. But the success of Mohabbatein has been the silver lining. or rather a golden lining.

But in spite of having four big films on hand and producers approaching him every second day, Jimmy has his feet firmly on the ground.

In an exclusive interview, he promises that he'd give better performances in his forthcoming films:

How was it doing Mohabbatein?
Great! Do you have any other word that could describe it?
I mean, you had, Adi (Aditya Chopra), Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and above all - Amitabh Bachchan!
What else could any actor ask for? As a matter of fact, the Chopra banner is the biggest thing. The rest is a bonus yaar, isn't it?

But don't you think the heavyweight star cast overshadowed your performances?
No way! Whoever told you this? Actually, it was our good fortune to have two of the biggest stars in the industry working with us. Shah Rukh was extremely helpful. He went out of his way and showed me how to act and how to work on a particular scene and improvise on that. Tell me who would do something like this? As for Mr Bachchan, it used to be a pleasure seeing him work. He did not have to teach us anything. We would just learn when we'd see him perform in front of the camera! All in all it was a very good learning experience for me.

So who is your favourite among the two?
I have never had a 'favourite actor' as such. But I have always been of the opinion that both Shah Rukh and Amitabh Bachchan are the industry's finest actors.

Going back, how were your early days?
Yes! I have done Gulzar saab's Maachis. I had a small role to play. but that got me a lot of recognition. Actually I was learning under Mr Roshan Taneja when Gulzar saab approached me for a role. He asked me to pick up a character, which I would like to play. So I picked up the character of 'Jimmy' since it is my pet name as well!
Actually Chandrachur Singh had picked one role of the lead guy a few days ago. To be honest, I never expected a lot from the film, since the role was a very small one. But then it worked out very well. Unfortunately, the films that I had expected would do a lot to my career didn't do well at all.

You mean Jahan Tum Le Chalo, right?
Yes! It was around the same time that I had signed this film and also another art film. My idea was that if these two films would release simultaneously, it would be a turning point in my career, but then the release of Jahan Tum Le Chalo was postponed time and again and eventually it was a disappointment. As for the art film. that didn't do any good for me either.

Coming back to Mohabbatein, how did you get the film?
I was in Delhi when I read in the newspapers that Adi was looking for fresh faces. So I asked a few of my friends, who know him, to put a word so that I could go and at least meet him. I even left my photographs at the Yashraj films office at Juhu. Then one fine day one of my friends told me that Yashraj Films was trying my Mumbai number. and was not able to get in touch with me. So what did I do? I took the next flight to Mumbai and went directly to their office. There I gave a screen test, I passed and I was in the film!

So where do you go from here?
Home. He he! Getting serious, presently I have just finishe working on a Tanuja Chandra film Zindagi Ek Safar opposite Amisha Patel. It is a lovely role... Besides this I am also working with Priyan (Priyadarshan). My feet are very much on the ground. I am not signing films blindly. I have become a little selective. I do not want to known as a one-film wonder. I have a long way to go. I have to work on my acting and learn a lot of things. And now that I have arrived, I want to stay here for good.