Jim Sarbh is having a moment in the sun. His portrayal of Homi J Bhabha in Rocket Boys earned him a nomination at the prestigious International Emmy Awards for Best Performance by an Actor. That apart, he received acclaim for his roles in two Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films – Badminton (directed by Dibakar Banerjee) and Next, Please (written-produced by Chaitanya Tamhane, directed by Rishav Kapoor), which premiered at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023. In an interview with News18 Showsha, the actor opened up on the type of films that excite him and whether Bollywood is finally taking notice of his work.
Rocket Boys got you a nomination at the International Emmy Awards. Did you expect the show to become as big as it did? Also, do you think Bollywood has now understood your potential as an actor, taken notice of you?
You can never expect anything to become anything. But, we made it with equal parts love and hard work. If it didn’t resonate with an audience, I think we would all have been quite sad. Of course, you don’t do it thinking what you will get out of it. But a story wants to be heard more than anything else in the world. So, the fact that it is heard and watched by a lot of people, at an international level as well, warms my heart.
Made in Heaven 2 was a big hit. Do you believe that audiences are becoming more receptive to flawed male characters rather than just favouring visually appealing men who are portrayed as flawless in stories?
Not necessarily just men, just imperfect characters in general are being represented more. And when they are represented more, they will naturally strike a chord with the audience because in audience experiences, imperfect people are constantly around them. It’s impossible for any human being to not be grey. It just is the very nature of life. The older ideas or concept of a hero, heroine and villain are slowly being dissolved because we understand that things are more complicated and our life experiences proves that.
What kind of camaraderie did you share with your co-actor Sobhita and Kalki?
They are great! Kalki, I’ve known for so many years. So, it’s really just very easy to act with her. She’s very good at making a very clear, distinct, stark character for herself that then gives me something to play off with. And I can stay with my idea of my character and she can stay with her idea of her character and we can really bounce off each other. Sobhita, of course, I got to know really well during the first season and the second season. It’s a lot more contentious. We’re actually just playing kind of at odds with each other. So, that was really easy.
Is it conscious call to stay away from mainstream Bollywood? What kind of roles do you look forward to? We last saw you in Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway.
No. I mean, I would definitely consider Mrs. Chatterjee vs. Norway, a film with Rani Mukherjee as the lead, keying in on this idea of being such a universal and important concept worldwide, a mainstream film. It does not necessarily warm the heart but more like it’s a very essential idea of Indianness, the concept of Indian mother, motherhood in general, the superhuman possibilities of motherhood. This film is interesting in the way that it presents that side, but it also presents the other side, which is an adopted guy who loves his parents and was raised amazingly and does not feel the same way about motherhood because his mother didn’t want him for whatever reason. And that’s all right. So, it’s not that I shy away from mainstream films at all.
Both Dibakar Banerjee and Chaitanya Tamhane are extremely acclaimed. His thoughts on working with them in a very different format.
Great! I’ve never worked with them in a long format, so I don’t know. But, as far as the short format goes, they know what they want; they both are very funny and are clearly masters of their craft. They just have so much experience. It was just a pleasure to be around them and learn from them and see how they are crafting a particular story.
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