Mumbai Theatre's "Outrageously Hot Guy", Jim Sarbh, Is Back With A Death In The Gunj

Mumbai Theatre’s “Outrageously Hot Guy”, Jim Sarbh, Is Back With A Death In The Gunj

The Neerja villain will be seen in Konkona Sensharma’s directorial debut this Friday. We sit down for a quick chat with the man himself.

By Arnesh Ghose

May 31, 2017

Everyone in the theatre circuit knows Jim Sarbh as that “outrageously hot guy”. Most of my lady friends refer to him like that, anyway. Tall, good looking and very talented, Sarbh has been a delight to watch on stage. Sarbh fell in love with theatre at a young age, and it was during his years at Emory University in Atlanta that he decided to act professionally.

I saw him for the first time in 2013, in Alyque Padamsee’s revival of Death of a Salesman, in which Sarbh plays one of the Loman sons. Later, in 2014, I showed up for his directorial debut, Bull. Since then, Sarbh has been a prominent name in Mumbai’s theatre scene. He has worked in several plays, such as Rage Productions’ The Glass Menagerie, Vickram Kapadia’s The Merchant of Venice, Kalki Koechlin’s The Living Room and Rajat Kapoor’s What’s Done is Done. It is Neerja, however, in which he played the ruthless Palestinian hijacker Khalil, that made him a well known public face.

How did theatre prepare him for film? “It’s just a question of the frame,” Sarbh says. “On stage, the frame is huge, while in film it varies. You use the same principles of truthfulness and character and you just turn the volume up or down. You act with your entire body across an empty stage; you act with just your eyes in a close up.”

Sarbh is quite the “hero material” for the offbeat indie space today. He will be seen next in Konkona Sensharma’s directorial debut, A Death in the Gunj, which releases this Friday. Sarbh plays a supporting role indeed, but brings his unique charm and eccentric flavour to the film which adds to Gunj’s eerie and mildly thriller vibe. I’m sure he has an interesting career ahead of him. Also, ladies, if you meet him, ask him to talk to you in an Italian accent. He does quite a good job of it.

Bubble gum pink silk garment-dyed rib knit turtleneck and white piecedyed popeline evening skinny shirt, with piquet plastron and embroidered patches on cuffs, paired with light acquamarine cotton wool drill tailored pants; tigerhead motif metal ring.

Black herbarium printed cotton crêpe New Palma jacket and sky embroidered silk crepe ’70’s shirt, paired with light acquamarine cotton wool drill tailored pants and leather sole slide in black leather, with natural fur and tiger patch.

Black grainy leather bomber with patch details and detachable web knitted collar.

Black ’70’s twill stretch Heritage tuxedo and sky blue pagoda fil coupé Duke shirt, paired with high top sneakers in black leather, with Blind for Love patch and red jacquard tiger silk tie.

Indigo hippocampus and comet jacquard evening vestaglia jacket, paired with black cottonwool drill marine pants and white fine poplin evening regular shirt; owl motif metal ring.

White vintage cotton jersey over base crew neck, with future print and cereal couloured cotton gabardine chino pants with web cuff, paired with Bracknell ’70’s twill stretch Cambridge jacket and leather sole slide in black leather, with natural fur and tiger patch.

Terra di Umbria vintage wool retro slim jacket and ink-bordeaux pin dots over check New Marseille pants paired with sky blue pagoda fil coupé Duke shirt and loafers with Donald Duck and Lobster patch.