The spark in Sarbh

Featuring in this year’s Forbes India 30 Under 30 List is 27-year-old theater actor-director Jim Sarbh in the art and culture category. The list showcases an enterprising new generation that dreams big and refuses to say die, notes the Forbes website. Not merely a celebration of capitalism and profit, the list is also in recognition of social value, Forbes notes. Though "the net was thrown wide to catch the best and the brightest,” the list is not exhaustive. "Months of research and interviews have produced names which more than meet the criteria we set out for the 30 under 30” and "we have focused on those at the precipice of greatness… We looked for spark…”

Jim Sarbh: intuitive actor

Scion of the family that was among the earliest promoters of Indian art post-independence, Sarbh is the grandson of Kali Pundole who founded Pundole Art Gallery. Though he attended Emory University in Atlanta, USA for a degree in psychology, the theater bug bit early, mentions Forbes India of February 9, 2015. Sarbh played Romeo in class seven or eight, followed by several other plays across a wide spectrum of genres. Though acting continued while he was at university, Sarbh admits "there was a time when I gave it all up, thinking there was something very narcissistic about it all.” Now, he admits, he enjoys theater and is "not concerned much about what others are doing.”
Having returned to India three-and-a-half years back, Sarbh has built up an impressive repertoire of work. "In 2013 I worked, acted in, eight plays. And in 2014, I made three plays,” he says, as he also dons the director’s hat. Raell Padamsee, director and producer, describes Sarbh as "a sensitive, intuitive actor who straddles myriad roles he has essayed with ease. He has a great stage presence and there is trueness to his performances,” as published in Forbes India. On June 6 and 7, 2014 Sarbh had directed Mike Bartlett’s play Bull in Bombay (See "Beautifully flawed,” Drama, Parsiana, August 21, 2014).
Recognition, the young theater person admits, has made his family accept his choice of career. Sarbh moves around with a backpack full of scripts. "That’s my next one,” he tells Forbes India, pulling out a sheaf of pages of Vikram Kapadia’s adaptation of Merchant of Venice in which he plays the character Gratiano. Also on the cards is a yet to be named play with actress Kalki Koechlin. He is to direct The Maids by French playwright Jean Genet as well. Between rehearsals there are the occasional advertisements which bring in ready money. Sarbh does not deem these projects as work. "It’s just a day’s shoot, and they pay me enough to cover my expenses.”