So what if Amitabh Bachchan once played a mute in the film Reshma Aur Shera (1971) despite his impressive, robust vocal chords. It was to test his acting capabilities in the earlier stages of his film career. Nana Patekar too played deaf and dumb in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Khamoshi — the musical (1996) that enhanced his versatility as an able actor beyond being a muscleman in most of his films. Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri played the hearing and speech impaired in Koshish (1972) and Bhansali’s Black exploited Rani Mukherjee’s talent as blind, deaf and dumb.
This time Jimmy Shergill, owner of a suitably impressive voice, plays mute in actor-director Deepak Tijori’s just released “Tom, Dick and Harry”. While all the above-mentioned films were serious and sentimental portrayal of physical disabilities, “Tom, Dick and Harry” presents the positive side of the physical handicap. Deepak shows them enjoying life despite their vulnerability. In this film Dino Morea plays deaf (Tom), Anuj Saawhney plays blind (Dick) and Jimmy Shergill plays mute (Harry).
Jimmy shares his experience of playing a mute person in the film. Only recently Jimmy 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 to only act as a good-looking, lovey-dovey boy. Now, for the first time he attempts a comedy, as a speech-impaired Harry in “Tom, Dick and Harry” 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 organized a couple of weeks’ workshop for us to get into the skin of the character.”
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 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 in a sweat. And then establishing a rapport with Dino was one of the most difficult parts on screen. The scene in which I make him understand a scene from film ‘Sholay’ 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 ‘OK’ 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 realize 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, Dr. Ghaseeta and Dr. 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 (I had great fun). 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.
