Exclusive: Jaswant Singh Dalal talks about his forthcoming projects and more

Just like every aspiring actor who wades past their theatre days and emerges to be one of the best talents that the film industry witnesses, Jaswant Singh Dalal has managed to carve his niche on his merit. He has come a long way from moulding a driven passion towards joining the army, to doing theatre to finally joining a film school. Recently he has won hearts with his performance as Timmy in Good Luck Jerry where people showered him with praises for his impactful portrayal of a gangster. In an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, the actor candidly chats about sharing a great camaraderie with Janhvi Kapoor on screen, playing a layered character, and his career goals Excerpts...

You were an army kid, and for the longest time your passion was to join the Indian Army, so how did acting happen? 

I joined our college drama team because one of my friends was the main guy in this drama team, and they were doing a skit on Sholay. They wanted me to play Mr. Bachchan's part because of my voice. When that happened, the kind of changes and the kind of love I got was very overwhelming. I did a play for them, and for that play got me the X factor award in college. Those claps made me realise I should become an actor.

You joined FTII and your batch mates included some notable names like Rajkummar Rao, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Vijay Verma. How's the camaraderie between you all?

We are very much in touch with each other. First, we are friends and then you know we are actors. 

Do y'all exchange notes?

I ask them to watch my performances, I watch them, they call me, we talk, you know we sit together, and we discuss each other's performances and everything. 

NH10 was your debut as an actor, and despite not being the main lead, your character left an impact....

Earlier I used to do film production and direction also, but when my batchmates started doing good, it came to my mind that we are from the same batch, even I should try acting now. So I started auditioning. I won't say that I want to do smaller roles but if the character is something that, if you'll remove the character from the script, the script is nothing. Whether it's a three-scene kind of a part, whether it's a four scenes part, or whether it's a primary part, I'm ready to do all kinds of films. And that the character in NH10, Omi, was like that because there was a sequence where my brother dies because of that Neil shoots him accidentally. So that scene was very important. When I read it I said okay, I'm doing it. 

Tell us about how Good Luck Jerry came along?

When I auditioned for Good Luck Jerry, the director said, “Timmy is my Tom, that's why his name is Timmy, you were just ready to pounce and grab Jerry, the mouse. So that line made me feel, that dude, this is the part I want to play. 

You and Janhvi have great chemistry in the film, how is your equation in real life? 

She is so grounded and she is so humble. We had a great bond. I would love to work with her again. And she's a very honest actor. She takes suggestions from others to hone her craft. 

Talking about the rest of the cast, there are so many talented actors such as Deepak Dobriyal and Sahil Mehta. How was your experience working with them? What were some of your takeaways?

Deepak Bhai, I have known him since 2007 or 2008. He's a great personality, he's a great actor, but he's a great human being also. I mean he's one of the most selfless people I’ve met. We shot this film like a family. In fact, most of us landed on the sets to offer support and observe even on the days we were not shooting. 

The movie is a comedy-crime drama, and your character has a lot of layers in the film, from playing a gangster to a lover boy. Was there anything you found challenging or tricky?

The most challenging part of this is that my director Siddharth Sen told me that I should always project love or anger towards Jerry but never lust. And that was difficult because when you're playing a villain, lust comes naturally in your expressions. Siddharth explained that you’re my Tom and there is a love-hate relationship between Tom and Jerry. I'm wearing a neck brace in the film and yeah, I practised for it like, for like good two months. And after two months I could not, in reality, I could not move my neck. It was that bad. And then I went to physiotherapy for four months. 

Good Luck Jerry is doing extremely well and your character has received so much appreciation. How has the response been from family, friends, and fans? 

Everybody is so happy, I mean yeah. I could say that, it came like, I've been in Mumbai for the last 12-13 years after FTII, and my friends are doing so well and everything. So, family, they think na, what happens to you, what will happen to you? When will you do it? Those questions and everything. Now, everything is sorted, now they have seen it. And my niece is like, especially, she has watched my film at least like 25 times, because every day she watches okay. Two or three times, every day. And so, it's a very great feeling yaar. Very great feeling.

You have your web series 'Farzi' coming up alongside Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi, tell us more about it. 

So I can't reveal much, but I can tell that you know I'm a big Vijay Sethupathi fan. Big means big, okay? I admire him, I love him. And I always wanted to work with him, and again, because of Mr. Mukesh Chhabra, I got this opportunity to work with him. Whenever he comes in the series, I'm there with him. I'm pretty excited about it. And it is great working with Mr. Raj and DK. I always wanted to work with them after watching The Family Man.

What are your goals in terms of acting in the future? Is there anything specific that's on your checklist in terms of projects/genres?

Actually, I want to do, every genre except sex comedy. And why I'm saying that sex comedy, it's not like I hate it, it's like here in our industry, when it comes to sex comedy it's very vulgar. Because if you see sex comedy from the West, it's fantastic okay? But here it's, it's, it's a below-the-belt, you know so I just don't want to do sex comedy otherwise I want to explore every genre I can. I want to do it because before that, believe me, my director cast me because of a show I did called Thinkistaan, he saw that show and in that also I'm playing a baddie. But believe me the kind of messages and the kind of love I'm getting for Timmy, everybody is saying Timmy was so sweet, Timmy was so charming, Timmy was so sweet. So now the perception will change okay, because of my height, and voice, everyone is like okay negative, negative, negative. Like it should not be like that with an actor, you know I want to play everything, every character, every colour you know, every emotion I want to live on screen.