Behind the screen
NANDINI NAIR
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Actors Kim Sharma and Jimmy Shergill speak on the sets of "Chhodon Naa Yaar".
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PHOTO: ANU PUSHKARNA
RETAKE Jimmy Shergill and Kim Sharma play college students in"Chhodon Naa Yaar".
One sees the grit and guts of filmmaking on the sets. Actors Jimmy Shergill and Kim Sharma were at Pathways World School to shoot for their forthcoming movie "Chhodon Naa Yaar". The posh school could be reached only by crossing dirt tracks, open fields and wandering herds. On location it is easy to spot the stars. The outdoors shots seem to trouble them and Kim complains, "Dhup ne had kar di."
Kim is not yet a star but has a dozen movies under her belt. Jimmy Shergill is known more as a supporting actor than a star.
But between shots they are willing to talk. Kim says she plays Rashmi, Jimmy's love interest in the movie. They play college students and she is a simple Delhi girl. She admits, "In terms of character I do not have many shades in this role."
Jimmy however calls the movie, "An adventure thriller." He plays a mass communication student. The movie is based on what happens to him while working on a college project.
Kim watches the shot on screen and calls her makeup artist, dissatisfied with her hair. Asked, "You were a part of `Ladies Tailor'," she interjects, "Unfortunately". She says that from the narration she heard, she formed an incorrect impression of the movie. "When I saw the promo, I was totally shocked."
Shooting
She is soon called for her next shot and leaves, promising to return. The shot involves a re-creation of a college scene. The man with a mike screams to the extras. "Wahan ki teen deviya agar meri baat sunai de rahi hain to hath upar karo." He politely adds, "Kim, one step back." But then aggressively tells the extras, "Body mein natkhatpan hona chahiye."
While the extras are ordered around, Jimmy and Kim stand below golf umbrellas and get their final makeup touches. "Lights. Camera." The umbrella-holders snap shut their shades. "Action. One.
Two. Three. Music. Go." As music hits the air the couple walks down the promenade with the camera following their tangent. The shot lasts barely a minute before the actors return to their seats.
With no dearth of new talent one wonders how Kim will succeed. "All of me is special," she seems confident of her success. Having been in the business since she was a teenager, "No longer a challenge," is how she describes the acting world. Is it boredom or facetiousness one wonders?
She plays at the mock ironic. Asked about Taj Mahal, her first response is, "Taj Mahal is a monument in Agra." Remind her it was a movie she acted in, she replies, "It's released. It's over and done with. I have nothing to say."
Jimmy and she have shared the screen before. On working with him, she says, "I share an easy rapport with him. There is no effort to be made. We are on the pulse of each other's tempo."
Jimmy asserts that having known each other a long time, working together is easy.
"As an actor, I'm hungry," Jimmy says, "I'm not insecure." For this reason he is seen frequently in many, if not meaty, roles.
"A landmark in my career," is how he describes "Munna Bhai". His love and respect for Raj Kumar Hirani convinced him that he had to be in the movie, even if it were just for a passing shot. Since all the other characters except for Munna and Circuit play different roles, he classifies the movie, "More as a serial than a sequence."
Seeing the takes and re-takes, acting loses its magic and seems more like tricks and less like life.
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