Jimmy Shergill created immense buzz with his latest outing Choona. The heist comedy thriller that featured Shergill as Avinash Shukla alongside Aashim Gulati, Namit Das, Chandan Roy, Niharika Lyra Dutt and others opened to a positive review from all corners. It’s been 27 years since his debut film Maachis and still Jimmy Shergill believes in pushing the envelope with his craft. Hence, the actor lent his voice for an Audible podcast series ‘Siyaah’, mired in themes of mystery drama.
The Tanu Weds Manu actor exclusively talked to Showsha and got candid about his role in the audio series and how the audio storytelling medium is changing the entertainment landscape in the country.
Here are the excerpts:
Tell us something about Siyaah. Just like the title, the synopsis is intriguing. What sort of themes does this audio series explore?
Siyah is a series on the audio format with audible and IBM offered me this opportunity to be a part of this. And I thought this is something I had not done before and I love dubbing anyways. So I thought I must attempt this and I ended up meeting the director Safoora and she briefed me about the whole thing and then I was given the script. It was brilliantly written and detailed. My reaction was why not make this into a proper, full-fledged video web series. But they said that it was an audio platform and they wanted to make this only for the audio. That’s how we ended going ahead with it and we went through a lot of readings and discussions. It has 12 episodes and a very interesting space. After watching several movies and web series, one might feel strain in their eyes or brain. Then there are people who like to listen to books instead of reading them. So this format is the best thing for them as they can listen to it while commuting, travelling. The best thing about the audio format is that even while you are enjoying the story, you are using your own imagination to paint a picture. For example, if two individuals are talking in front of a palace, the visualization of that palace might vary from person to person. And it also puts up the brain on exercise. What we need to understand with this format, whatever that is going to eventually reach the audience, is your voice. People concentrate on your voice alone.
Now that you have ventured into the audio storytelling space, do you feel it can be a popular means of entertainment, especially with so many options at our disposal like OTT, television, movie theatres etc?
We are also human beings. If something is getting popular in the west, that doesn’t mean it cannot become popular here. In visual mediums, you can only watch it to a certain extent but audio format is entirely different. Why do songs get so popular? It’s because one is not consuming visual content all the time. So I feel one might not feel like listening to music inside a car and they might want to listen to a story. When we were kids,
whenever we used to watch a movie in the theatres, we used to go to a shop and ask whether the makers have released the audio tape of the same film or not. That audio tape used to come in two parts i.e story before the interval and story after the interval. We used to listen to it on the tape recorders. And if we had already watched that film, we could visualize a certain scene. And those who haven’t, they would visualize it as per their creative brains. So I think format will definitely become more popular.
You were recently seen in Choona and that web series managed to grab quite a lot of eyeballs for it’s unique story and characters. What fascinated you to be a part of that world? And how easy or difficult was it to get into the skin of Avinash Shukla?
It was an overall interesting story and I liked it after going through the script. Now when that series is receiving so much love, one feels that it’s a story with a unique treatment. There is humour in it. To retain the darkness in the humour is a craft on its own and I am so glad I was a part of it. Shuklaji became so popular that my DM section crashed completely. I was confident that people would like Shukla but they would love him to this extent? That I never contemplated.
Between Hindi Cinema and Punjabi Cinema, you seem to be part of best of both worlds. However, in that process, because of dates, have you missed out on a role or a film that you really wanted to be a part of but couldn’t? Also, how do you manage and priorities your time between these two spaces?
I never miss out on good and important roles. When you like a certain role a lot, you chart out your dates and schedules, you latch on to it. The point is one shouldn’t miss out on the good things.
It’s been over two decades since Mohabbatein was released. And like you have mentioned before, that film serves as an important milestone in your career? What sort of memories can you recall from the sets of the film?
Lovely memories. Memories that make you feel that it just happened last year. I can never forget that.
How hard is it in the industry for an actor like yourself to not get typecasted? Did you ever face that and how did you cope up with it?
When people like an actor playing a certain character like a police officer, then you start getting roles of similar nature. Now that depends upon the actor whether they’ll say yes or no to them. As an actor, the responsibility is yours as to how you see a certain thing and how you segregate roles in a way that doesn’t typecast you. So by choosing different kinds of roles, you have to show your versatility that you are capable of pulling off any sort of characters. At the end of the day, what I have noticed is that the characters that come to you from known people, it’ll be in the same zone as the characters you have already played. They don’t want to take a chance.
