In a career spanning nearly 30 years, there has hardly been a bad, or even a middling, performance from Jimmy Shergill. The actor, 52, now plays a power-hungry politician with a twisted sense of humour in the web series Choona, streaming on Netflix from September 29. A t2 chat.

What made you decide to do Choona?

Mukesh Chhabra (casting director) sent me the script. I loved the script so much that I wanted to know who had written it. I got to know that the director (Pushpendra Nath Misra) of the show is also its writer. I wanted to meet him. Even though I had certain reservations about my character, I really loved the script.

I am so happy that someone is writing this kind of stuff. This is not the usual, and yet is so entertaining and so fresh. I met the director and told him that I didn’t think I would want to play this role because again, it is one of those powerful UP ( hailing from Uttar Pradesh) characters with a moustache and kurta-pyjama.... I wanted to take a break from those kinds of characters for a bit. But he told me that he was looking at the character very differently from all that I had done before. It was a different story with a different kind of treatment to this particular character.

We had some great conversations and a few cups of coffee here and there. I was trying to tell him I couldn’t do it and he was trying to convince me I could. I finally gave in and said: ‘Let’s go with it and see what happens.’ And then we plunged into it and tried to make the character different from what I had done before.

Were all your reservations eventually taken care of?

Absolutely! I am very glad I did this show and I am even more glad that I decided to play Shuklaji. This is a character very dear to me now. There was a clinical approach to this character that we had decided on before. Pushi (director) had certain things in mind... he wanted Shuklaji to be a little unpredictable. This character is majorly into astrology, he knows exactly what he is doing every minute and how his entire day will play out, right down to what he will wear. For him, everything hinges on astrology. He has to have a bath in a copper bathtub with certain herbs which are also dictated by astrology. On the show, these things are unsaid and not underlined, but they provide a very good glimpse of what this man is. Pushi is a director who believes in a lot of detailing.

Shukla, as I mentioned, is unpredictable. Just when you feel he will lose his temper, he reins it in and behaves differently. In the first or second episode, there is a scene where he is about to immolate a guy and at the last minute, he turns around and says: ‘Arre, what you saying?! He’s such a good kid!’ (Laughs) And he lets the fellow go. That’s Shuklaji for you. The kind of layering that good writers can do for characters is amazing.

Are you a believer in astrology?

I do believe in astrology. The person who reads and interprets your chart has to be very good... I firmly believe in that.

Is that why you changed the spelling of your name to ‘Jimmy Sheirgill’ for many years in between?

Sab karke dekha hua hain! (Laughs) But this was for a different reason. I ventured into social media late and by the time I got down to creating my social media handles, ‘Jimmy Shergill’ was already taken. We even got in touch with the people who had them but they were not willing to give them up. I was very sure that I wanted the same name for all my social media handles and so I opted for ‘Sheirgill’.

In this age of so much content, how do you ensure that what you pick and choose will break through the clutter and have an impact?

I react very instinctively to scripts. I love reading scripts and if I read one and have the gut feeling that this will be nice, I will do it. Each time, the role doesn’t have to be a pathbreaking one. But for Choona, when I read it, I knew that this was something so refreshing that whenever it came out, it would make an impact.

Three decades in the business later, what do you look for in a part now?

Something that I have not done before, a part that will take me out of my comfort zone. It’s easy to typecast and give an actor the same kind of roles. I constantly look for something that pushes me to the limits and right out of my comfort zone.

Which role, of late, has really pushed you out of your comfort zone?

Choona is definitely one. Even though it’s a character from UP, the challenge was not to look like a sahib. I have a show called Ranneeti (co-starring Lara Dutta Bhupathi) on JioCinema whose teaser came out some time ago. I am very excited about the show. I am glad that both these shows will come out back to back. I play two extreme characters in these two shows.

A part that you feel that you haven’t played enough of?

I would love to play a lighthearted role. The good ones in that genre haven’t really come to me yet. But you would have seen flashes of my humorous side in films like De De Pyaar De and Dil Vil Pyar Vyar. I do have a flair for comic roles. It’s just that I am looking out for some nice ones.

You have told me that you always look ahead and not look back. Has anything in particular triggered that practice?

I don’t like looking back and thinking about what could have been. It’s just a waste of time. I look at the things ahead of me and then see what is the best that I can do out of that. The only time I look back is to see that if I have played a similar character before, how different can I make my next.

No matter how a film or a series turns out, your portrayal has hardly ever been criticised. What would you attribute that to?

There are times when a script is promising and you are promised that it will be made in a certain way, but for some reason, it isn’t. Compromises start happening. What do you then do as an actor? You keep your side of the bargain and put in your best. And that’s what I have always done. Once I say ‘yes’ to something, I go all out and I try and live up to my commitment.

I know that it’s my face which will be on the screen. If I don’t play my part with sincerity and honesty, it will show. So I try and do my best and then move on. It’s a part of life.

How are you a different actor now from what you were 10 years ago?

Ten more years of experience (smiles).

Do you remember how you were on the first day of the shoot of Maachis and what would you tell that Jimmy today?

I was on the set from the first day and by the time I got to my scenes, the nervousness had lessened. But that’s Gulzar saab (the film’s director) for you. Maachis was a huge learning experience. In those times, we had those cameras that made a sound, unlike the ones today, and it is that sound that would both make us nervous as well as give us an adrenaline rush.

And if I meet that Jimmy today, I would tell him: ‘Bro, 30 years are guaranteed! So take it easy’ (laughs).

Which are your top three favourite Jimmy Shergill roles? Tell t2@abp.in