Over the years, Jim Sarbh has somehow found himself playing characters based on real historical figures more often than not. After bringing to life diverse historical figures, such as Malik Kafur and Homi J. Bhabha, he is now set to play Titan Watches founder Xerxes Desai in the upcoming show, Made in India: A Titan Story. In a candid chat with Hindustan Times ahead of the release, Jim opens up about playing the entrepreneur, his career, and more.
Jim Sarbh on playing Xerxes Desai
Xerxes Desai, a protege of JRD Tata, was instrumental in creating India’s premier watchmaking industry through Titan. Jim plays him in Made in India, and the actor reveals he wore no wig to look like the balding Desai. “No wig! I had to shave my head every morning,” he tells us with a laugh. Talking about how he navigated that period with half his head shaved, Jim adds, “The regular life was a bit tough. Hats, all the time. If you choose to go bald, that’s one thing. Then you shave it all off and rock it. But this look was something else. If this started to happen to me, I would just shave everything off.”
80% of my work is playing real people
Jim’s last big web series was Rocket Boys, another period drama in which he played a real-life figure, Homi J. Bhabha. “In a strange manner, I find myself answering questions about characters based on real-life people many times. 80-90% of the work I have done is playing real people, which is bizarre,” the actor says with a laugh.
But despite his ‘expertise’ in playing real-life characters, he has no set process or template for approaching such roles. The actor explains, “I try to treat it based on the script and what the character’s function is based on the overall story. They may not be perfectly how they were in real life, but this is a story at the end of the day. It is based on real people, but it has to have all the elements that make it exciting. I try to view it not with the burden of the past or the real person.”
Made in India: A Titan Story also stars Naseeruddin Shah as JRD Tata, along with a large ensemble cast including Vaibhav Tatwawadi, Kaveri Seth, Namita Dubey, Lakshvir Saran, Joy Sengupta, Viraf Patel, and Ashwath Bhatt. It begins streaming on Amazon MX Player from June 3.