A conversation with Jim Sarbh is never boring, despite the long pregnant pauses he takes. The Made In Heaven (MIH) star talks to us from his residence in Mumbai, sitting against a bookshelf with an unexpected guest — his cat Mimi. “She’s not shy of camera, she doesn’t care, she just wants to be pet,” he begins at the start of our chat, hinting at his endless love for the kitty. The Mumbai born actor seamlessly jumps from one topic to another, before you even know it — an insignia of his “mercurial” personality. It’s hard to box him as he flows like an uninterrupted stream of thoughts, covering a vast landscape of topics like theatre, cinema, books, sports, music, travel and a lot more. Each of the subjects become rich with his fecund imagination, psychological understanding and childlike curiosity that let him see beneath the surface of whatever he pursues in life.
It’s evident in his filmography — from portraying biographical figures like Homi J Bhabha in Rocket Boys; an eccentric homosexual slave-general in period drama Padmaavat, a merciless plane hijacker in Neerja to a quirky drug peddler in Sanju and featuring in the heart-tearing romantic music video, Cold Mess; his versatility on screen drowns viewers in a sea of emotions — love, loss, grief and angst. And the second season of the hit Amazon Prime show, MIH is was no different where Jim’s character Adil Khanna — a well heeled businessman married to wife Tara (Shobhita Dhulipala) is in emotional turmoil over his extra marital affair and is challenged by her in the court. Letting us in, though briefly, Jim shares how the greyer characters of the drama series mature in the second season, “Season two has new characters, plot additions and deepening arcs that you already know about the life of people. The characters are not mature yet, but the process is happening. Things are being lost and gained. The characters have to face the consequences of choices and decisions they took and amid all this; Adil faces a fair share of loss.”
The actor who has a knack for rigorous rehearsing, elaborates on how shooting for season two was simpler, “In Made In Heaven Season 2, getting into the skin of the character was a lot easier because the characters were more or less inside of you after season one. All you have to do now is put the needle in the groove of a record that is already spinning inside of you.” Given this music analogy and a record player kept in his background, we asked if he’s into music too. “Be it music, films or art, in general, I enjoy experiencing a great variety. In music, I like classical to modern rock and hip-hop and these days, electronic music, folk music, Indie pop reggae, funk and African Jazz, African rock… There is so much new interesting music that keeps on coming from all parts of the world. However, I haven’t tried my hands at playing a musical instrument or singing,” he shares.
Art is intuitive
The actor being the grandson of India’s pioneering gallerist Kali Pundole, lives, breathes and likes to talk about art in all its forms. It comes intuitively to him. He did theatre in school and later developed a passion for acting when he was studying Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta. On returning to Mumbai in 2012, Jim participated in the city’s thriving theatre scene, being part of plays like Alyque Padamsee’s Death of a Salesman, Kalki Koechlin’s The Living Room, Rajat Kapoor’s What’s Done is Done and more. “I didn’t really think of being into theatre. I was just passionate about storytelling in general,” he shares, adding, “When I went to the American School of Bombay, I participated in a lot of elocutions, plays, speech and drama classes. I was obsessed with movies and TV shows but there was no particular incident that was the eureka moment that made me get into acting. It was a very organic.” While he feels recounting childhood days is “tricky” as one has to go back really far, he does tell us about the memorable plays he was part of at school. “In the 11th standard, we did The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde, whose writings are filled with brevity, humour and social commentary. I was also part of Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave.” Jim finds theatre teachers “cool” and shows fidgety hand moments to elaborate how, “They are dealing with this interesting, flammable, voluminous, sensible text most of the times.”
Being an art lover, Jim often visits art galleries. On being asked about the last art show he attended, he quickly replies, “It was just this month when I visited the art exhibition by 94-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at NMACC. Her exhibition called Infinity Mirror Room was filled with mirrors and lights. It made me feel like I was in the middle of this infinite cosmic arena. You get the chance to be there only for a minute! It was an enthralling experience,” he tells us awe-inspired.
The magician’s trick
As a creative individual, Jim gives more importance to the process of creation than the end work itself. “I feel, to an extent, over-explaining about art reduces its magic. Just experience it. Art should be made more accessible to people. Make the average consumers come in, not just the elites. As he speaks, we see a full stack of books on his shelf making us ask if he’s an avid reader. “No, I haven’t read a single of them, they’re kept just as props to make people believe I read,” he says in jest only to reveal he’s currently reading Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett, and has queued up a non-fiction book in his bag called The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. The avid reader in him has made him a master of figure of speech, and he comes up with creative allegories as we chat.
In one, he articulates that an artiste is like a magician and shouldn’t be asked to discuss a lot on his craft as that will uncover his magic trick. “If somebody asks me if you would like to do interviews for a certain film or series or you would want people to see your work, and then interpret it in their own way, I will prefer the latter because it is like asking a magician to tell you how do you do a trick. That is something that can only be experienced by the magician or by the actor, in my case. After all, your performance is only half about what you do and half about how the audience draws conclusions. That’s the beauty of art. It should ask the right questions, not tell how to think, preach or explain. Art makes you confront yourself a little bit more,” he explains.
Not ‘fooled’ by laurels
Jim has been part of some of the highest grossing as well as critically acclaimed projects like Neerja, A Death In The Gunj, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Four More Shots Please and more; and has won a fair number of awards in the categories of — Best Actor in Supporting Role, Male Debut, Negative Role, Critics’ Choice, among many more. He’s widely popular amongst youth for his craft, uncanny yet suave appearance and a gender-neutral fashion sense that bashes societal conventions. Despite seeming to have it all, Jim understands the impermanence of success or failure. “I am a very moody person as far as my emotional range goes. I like my personal space and time and value and enjoy it. I don’t tie my self-worth only to my work; I like to look beyond it. Work is like a spring, which sometimes becomes dry; it can’t always give you fresh water,” Jim says.
He elaborates how he can see through the smoke and mirrors of success, “There comes a time where you are not wanted the same way like you were desired before. Ups and downs come in everyone’s life — they’re inevitable. Yet we get fooled each time we have accomplishments. I don’t believe in numbers and all… they are left to the production company. I only focus on my craft (smiles),” the actor shares, adding that he lives in the present, without over-thinking about the future. This is why he doesn’t like rating his best projects as that creates a mental benchmark. “It upsets you if you don’t meet that standard again in future. So I try to appreciate the strength of each project rather than living in constant comparison. That feels like a sad way of living life.”
Fluid fashion
Androgynous fashion was popularised in the West in 70s and 80s, by notable figures like Freddie Mercury and David Bowie and again saw its revival in popular discourse by icons like Harry Styles, Kristen Stewart, Zendaya and others. However, India was still new to the fresh wave of gender neutral fashion until style icons like Jim embraced it featuring on covers of fashion magazines in a non-gender look and glittery eye makeup and even sporting a lace blouse and skirt in some campaigns.
These days, he is seen opting for floral prints on tuxedos on a casual work day. His gender fluid style was shaped from the wide global exposure in the United States, Sydney and other places he’s travelled to and lived so far. However, Jim feels fashion is very personal and one can wear what they want. “There are no hard and fast rules in fashion or lifestyle. There are so many variations not just in the plant and animal world but amongst us human beings and as you grow older, you realise this diversity after you talk to many people around you. The more you interact; the better is your understanding and acceptance of each personality. So if you feel feminine, wear feminine clothes; if you feel masculine, wear masculine clothes. If other people don’t like it, that’s their problem. We as a society have crafted some rules; since it’s all made up, you can do what you want,” he shares on a concluding note.
Made In Heaven Season 2 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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