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Celebrate the silence

Jimmy Shergill recalls the adventure of doing a different kind of comic role in "Tom Dick and Harry" released this Friday. It wasn't a cakewalk, he tells RANA SIDDIQUI

photo: K. GAJENDRAN

SPEAK NO EVIL Jimmy Shergill says he felt what silence really meant while playing the speech-impaired Harry in Deepak Tijori's "Tom Dick and Harry"

Only recently Jimmy Shergill received applause for his role of a cop in Shoojit Sircar's Yahaan. The film after Gulzar's Maachis proved his hold over a role of substance that did not require him only to act as a good-looking, lovey-dovey boy. Now, for the first time he attempts a comedy. He plays a speech-impaired Harry in the film Tom Dick and Harry directed by Deepak Tijori, released this week.

For Jimmy, the role came as a change from the films he has been doing. It instilled in him "a confidence to do a comedy role too". It was not smooth sailing for him though. Apart from looking for references, he also had to use his imagination to make it come alive on screen. For instance, the manner of laughing, appearing gullible, hapless and so on. He relates, "I had seen an English play titled `See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil' some time ago. During my rehearsals I would use that experience as a reference point. Deepak also organised a couple of weeks' workshop for us to get into the skin of character (Tom played by Dino Morea is deaf and Dick played by Anuj Saawhney is blind in the film)."

`Draining'

Coax this actor a bit and he gives in. "I must admit it wasn't easy. In fact, it was physically very draining. Though it was a comedy, but believe me this kind of a comedy has its own share of complications. Here not only did I have to be sensitive enough not to go overboard, which other comedy roles permit, but also look different. I had to tell everything to my partners (Tom and Dick) through gestures. First learning the sign language and then performing it to look perfect, left me perspiring. And then establishing a rapport with Dino was one of the most difficult parts on screen. The scene in which I am being introduced to him was the most difficult scene of the film for me. In that scene I explain something to him that he is not able to follow. It took quite a lot of time to `okay' the scene," says Jimmy. He also hastens to add that during many scenes that required him to remain gullible, he felt like a real mute person. "Sitting alone for some time on the sets made me realise how helpless people who can't speak must be feeling in the face of all who can express themselves so freely. The film is a valuable addition to my personal values."

Apart from looking real on the screen he also had to look amusing, for it is a comedy film. Jimmy had to prove himself doubly: as a comedian and as a mute person. To look and feel funny he had a funny reference too. He reveals, "In my childhood I used to read a lot of Diamond comics. I would try to make faces like them. I would sit in a corner and read aloud and laugh no end. I was reminded of those funny characters like Motu, Patlu, Doctor Ghaseeta and Doctor Jhatka during my scenes which would make my road to comedy smooth," he laughs as he also shares that doing comedy for the first time was fun. "Bahut maza aaya. It ironed out the creases we would get after tough scenes. As a result I became quite comfortable in a lot of scenes that didn't require much of sign language. The film has turned out to be laugh riot," he assures.

So next in his kitty are Naseeruddin Shah's Yun Hota to Kya Hota, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya apart from a Punjabi film Mannat opposite Kulraj Randhawa.

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