For someone who began as the quintessential chocolate boy next door, Jimmy Shergill has come a long way. He has transformed his on-screen image to that a tough guy. In his next film, Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, he plays a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense cop. Ahead of the film's release, the actor sits down with HT to talk about the film, his intuition in selecting projects, and changing his image. 

On Sikandar Ka Muqaddar

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar sees Jimmy as Inspector Jasvinder Singh, a cop obsessed with a crime he couldn't solve years ago. The actor says the character is quite different from him. "I have learnt in life to let go. But when things are positive, when things are good and you feel you can be obsessed with them, I do that," he says.

The film also stars Avinash Tiwary and Tamannaah Bhatia and has been directed by Neeraj Pandey. The trailer, which is out, has been praised for this fresh team-up. One particular line of dialogue from Jimmy - where his character talks about people's moolvriti (intuition) - has gone viral. Talking about his own intuition, Jimmy says that there have been times when he chose the wrong film. "I have done over 150 films and this has happened so many times that I cannot even count," he says.

On getting film selection wrong

The actor says in a bid to support new directors, there were times when he bit more than he could chew. "I had always tried to support new people. If the script is interesting and it is a bound work, I try to give newer directors a chance. If you see they are new people with limited budget and means, you try and accommodate your dates. You can't do everything for money, so some you just do to have fun," says Jimmy, adding, "But several times it happens that once you begin filming, they compromise on everything. The story is based in UP but you are shooting amid coconut trees in Naigaon, and stuff like that. But then you decide that you can't let the whole film and crew suffer because of one or two idiots."

But he says that these experiences have not made him negative. "It makes you cautious but not negative," he reasons.

On on-screen image

Jimmy became a heartthrob with films like Mohabbatein and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai over two decades ago, before breaking that image by doing more rustic and hard characters later in the decade. The actor says it was a conscious decision. "I felt that agar yahi naach-gana karta raha, 3-4 saal mein ghar pe baith jaunga (if I continued doing this song and dance, I will be sitting at home in 3-4 years). It will be over and done with," he tells us.

Jimmy went for offbeat roles in diverse films to attempt that image change. He explains, "That is when films like Haasil, Munnabhai MBBS, A Wednesday, and Tanu Weds Manu came. I tried to make my look more real, without makeup, and bring more hardness to my face. Ab itna hard ho jayega, yeh nahi socha tha (I didn't realise my look would become this hard). Now, the challenge is to try and to go back and bring that innocence back."

Jimmy's latest film, Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, directed by Neeraj Pandey, releases on Netflix on November 29.

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