After 'A Wednesday', Jimmy Sheirgill is willing to forget the string of box office non-performers that he has been a part of in the last few months, most recently been 'Hastey Hastey'. However, though he had commercial failures like 'Strangers' (which he still calls as his best film since 'Yahaan' - rightly so!), 'Choddon Naa Yaar', 'Victoria No. 203', 'Raqeeb', 'Delhii Heights', 'Rehguzar' and 'Bas Ek Pal', one common factor that always stayed on was the appreciation that kept coming in.
With the tag of Bollywood's one of the 'most under rated performers' in the recent times being bestowed upon him, Jimmy Sheirgill is now taking it slow and primarily concentrating on working in far more prestigious projects. Of course, 'Shoebite' is one of them.
"What a pleasure working with someone like Amitabh Bachchan", exclaims Jimmy Sheirgill who is one of the major protagonists of 'Shoebite' apart from Big B and Sarika, "This is the third time I am working with him after 'Mohabbatein' and 'Eklavya - The Royal Guard'. It was great sharing a common frame with him then and it's the same even today."
One always sensed that coming from Shoojit Sircar, the man who made his debut with small budgeted 'Yahaan' (again starring Jimmy Sheirgill), 'Shoebite' too would be set on a small canvas. How far is that true?
"Which world are you living in", says Jimmy with mock despair, "We are talking about a multi crore film here. And it is not just expenses which is making 'Shoebite' huge. You have to look at the way Shoojit and UTV Motion Pictures, my film's producers, are going all out to set it up as one of the most talked about films when it releases early 2009."
Oh really?
"Exactly. The film shows the journey of the man played by Mr. Bachchan and how he traverses the entire country from Manali to Kanyakumari. In fact we are shooting the film on the same pattern as well. Sometimes for a single day shoot of the film, we have traveled two days just to reach the location. I have never traveled so much for a film and since Shoojit wants to given authenticity to his frames, he is picking up the right locations, seasons and setting for each and every scene in the film", Jimmy goes on to add.
Coming with a tagline of 'A Journey of Self Discovery', 'Shoebite' also stars Dia Mirza and has music by Shantanu Moitra.