Jimmy Shergill is one of the sweetest actors in the industry, who swooned many hearts of his female fans with his on-screen performances. He is best known for his chocolate boy character 'Karan Choudhry' in the film, Mohabbatein, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and a few others. However, for those who don't know, Jimmy began his career in the Hindi film industry with a remarkable performance in Gulzar’s critically acclaimed film, Maachis, which was released on October 25, 1996.
In a recent interview with Sushant Sinha, Jimmy Shergill walked down memory lane on how he met Gulzar and landed a role in his critically acclaimed film, Maachis. For the unversed, Jimmy achieved huge fame for his role in the film, which paved the way for him to get an opportunity to star in the romantic drama, Mohabbatein. The actor revealed that the day he met Gulzar with the help of one of his friends, he asked the director to keep him as an assistant under him. He mentioned the reason behind the same was that he didn't want to go back to his hometown after finishing his film studies. Instead, he wanted to stay in Bombay (now in Mumbai).
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However, when Gulzar heard Jimmy's wish, the director asked him why he wanted to do so. Gulzar quipped, “If you do acting, why do you want to come into direction?” To this, Jimmy explained, “I have heard that here nobody gets a break until after five or six years and I don’t want to go home.” But listening to the actor's honest words, Gulzar asked him to read the film's script and pick a role for himself. Soon, the actor, whose real name is Jasjit Shergill and pet name is Jimmy, suggested that he could do the role of 'Jimmy' in the film. In Jimmy's words:
“After reading the script, he asked, ‘Which role did you like? If you had to do a role, which would it be?’ I said, ‘I think I should do Jimmy. My pet name is Jimmy.’ I met him as Jasjit Shergill.”
And the rest became history as Gulzar soon took Jimmy in his film. However, the actor mentioned that he had to face a lot of criticism because the role was small. Moreover, he revealed that his first paycheck after working in the film, was merely about Rs. 20,000. But he mentioned how he kept getting offers after working in Gulzar's Maachis, and said:
“I had to listen to a lot of taunts. A lot of people said things like ‘Are you mad? This is a small role. Wait for your time to come.’ I think it (paycheck) was somewhere around Rs 20,000. I was lucky that my family was supporting me. This went on till I got Mohabbatein. Once Mohabbatein came, I slowly reduced taking money from home.”
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Earlier, in an interview with Cyrus Broacha, Jimmy recalled the two years after the success of his film, Mohabbatein. The actor said that he got multiple offers of romantic films after the film's release and got immense stardom. However, he further added that he wasn't even able to enjoy hin wedding and arrived as a guest. Jimmy mentioned that he attended only the main functions of his marriage, he couldn't be with his family for 10-15 days. For the unversed, Jimmy tied the knot with the love of his life, Priyanka Puri in 2001.
What do you think about Jimmy's revelations? Let us know!
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