Jimmy charms in his comic act

Arnab Bannerjee traces the actor's slow and steady rise in the filmdom.

Remember the thin lad with long hair and middle pairing in Gulzar’s Maachis? Yes, Jimmy Shergill impressed the masses and classes with his debut film.

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Fans and critics find him cute, bankable and intense. But Jimmy Shergill has other reasons to be pleased about himself – a long list of filmmakers who noticed his spark and signed him on quite early on in his career.

He had Yashraj, Kundan Shah, Khalid Mohammad, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Tanuja Chandra readying their scripts to accommodate him in their films.

This week he has probably surprised himself too. In Deepak Tijori’s direction, Tom Dick And Harry, he comes up with a rare comic timing without once resorting to playing to the gallery with double meaning dialogues. As the dumb Harry among the trio of deaf, dumb and blind, Shergill’s sign language tickles the funny bone. And that’s the reason he delivers with aplomb and style.

Jimmy Shergill has been signed by Shyam Benegal for his ambitious film, Chamki.

While the deaf (Dino Morea) does all the talking it is only due to the efforts of Harry, whose disability as the mute spectator, translates for Morea the action all around. It also includes a hilarious telephonic conversation that Shergill hears and makes Morea answer calls. Shergill’s signals gesticulating many acts of various characters as also their evil intentions sometimes, lead to absurdly funny situations as he tries to warn his friends about an impending danger.

Since comedy involves an actor’s immediate reaction, many stars, who have otherwise excelled in numerous intense roles, find it most difficult to enact. Shergill too has had a track record of some powerful performances in Haasil, Munnabhai, Charas, Silsilay and Yahaan to his credit.

He has had his share of fun in the romance and song and dance routine too, but somehow one couldn’t imagine him attempting comedy with élan. His confidence as an actor comes through as he quite visibly stands out in the multi star cast film. While making an effort to be comical and amusing, he is the only actor who doesn’t need lines loaded with double meanings or lewd gestures in the name of comedy. Instead he manages to turn into one of the most charming actors as a comedian. Kudos to him for endeavoring to accept the challenge of clowning, more as a means to test his own potential and his funny side rather than to grab viewers’ attention with cheap gimmicks and coarse one liners.

Let’s hope with Shyam Bengal signing him on for his ambitious Chamki and Naseeruddin Shah’s directorial debut, things only look up for this slow but steady star.