Meet Jim Sarbh, the terrorist from Neerja

Meet Jim Sarbh, the terrorist from Neerja

He played the menacing Khalil in Neerja with expertise and great effect. But Jim Sarbh is no Palestinian. He's very much desi. He's a regular Parsi boy from Bombay. Yes he has an exotic name, but his story is very much Indian and it's not your typical struggler's tale. He comes from a family very well known in the art circles of India. His grandfather was a man who pioneered modern art and even made it a viable commerce in the country. This is the veritable and comprehensive character backdrop on Jim Sarbh and it's from the horse's mouth. Here's everything you ever wanted to know about one of the hottest theatre actors in the business.

Growing up

My Dad had a typical rags-to-riches kind of story. He lived in a Parsi colony in Mahim. He became a captain on ship, and then we moved to Australia when I was three. We were there till I turned 8. Then we moved back to Bombay, where I studied at the Bombay International School and then I shifted to the American School of Bombay. Next I went to the United States for 5 years, where I studied psychology at the Emory University. I worked at a theatre company over there; I worked on a lot of these underground theatre projects in Atlanta. Then I came back to India, because I just needed a break from acting. I was interested more in my personal growth; I did not want to go on stage and do the same thing, over and over again. I went to an Ashram in Bihar and I was walking all over the Himalayas with a backpack and a tent, campfires, all by myself. At some point I got the feeling that I'll regret that I didn't act in films.

Catching a break

I got offered a role in a tiny cafe in Dharamkot, Himachal Pradesh. A theatre met me and asked me to come down to Goa for two months. He promised to give me a place to stay. I was like, Oookaaay! Fine! From Goa I came back to Bombay, I helped with the Sundance Institute's Screen Writer's Lab project. I wanted to learn about screen writing and the process of making films. That's when I started getting cast in a lot of plays. Because theatre was my comfort zone, I'd worked with it previously, I pursued it and I kept getting cast over and over again, hoping always that someone would notice and cast me in a film. Casting director Kanika Berry had got me on board for an ad once. I didn't get cast in that ad. It was so long ago I can't even remember the product. It could've been Lyril soap or Mentos, either of them. I had to be energetic; I was juggling and doing all kinds of stuff. Didn't get cast but I guess she must've remembered that I look middle-eastern enough. I mean, Parsis are originally from the Middle East, so no wonder. The middle-eastern looks got me in to Neerja.

Family background

My grandfather's name is Kali Pundole. He used to have a small watch shop at Flora Fountain. Now it's called something else. He used to visit this baba in Goregaon, his name was Kamu baba. The watch business wasn't doing all that well. He had a plan to go to Canada and get involved in some minerals business with a friend who was settled there. But Kamu baba told him to not go to Canada. He advised my grandfather to open an art gallery. My grandfather was apprehensive; he knew nothing about art or its exhibition. But the baba said not to worry; just open the gallery and a tall man with a beard will walk in and you make friends with him. My grandfather weighed this option for a while, he trusted this man so he decided to go ahead with it. He opened the gallery but kept a small watch repair shop in the back, just in case he needed to make some money. He got the space but he didn't know what to do with it, so he went and bought pictures of flora and fauna, posters and all. He framed them and put them on the walls. He got some lights; he had no clue of what he was doing. He just got on and tried to focus these lights and a tall man with a beard walked in and asked, What are doing? Are you opening a gallery?' My grandfather said yes, so the man asked, What are you doing with lights?' I don't know' my grandfather replied; I'm just trying to focus them'. He offered to help and he got up there and he sorted all the lights out. Then he said, I'm an artist and I have some work. Can I show them here?' Grandfather said, yes. Years later I'm sitting with MF Hussain and he says, Your grandfather! That Parsi man sold all the paintings in a month'. That's how my grandfather got down to making the first private art gallery in Bombay.

Art lover

I'm glad to have that background. I can now walk into a home and exclaim, oh! Ram Kumar! Hussain! Krishna Khanna! It's nice to be able to appreciate all that. That also allows you to think of frames. So I take that idea of frames to theatre as well. So you know what the frame is and then you can concentrate on the thing that's most interesting within that frame. Also I had no concept of the frame in Neerja. I had guys just following me around.