After doing theatre, films and web series, Jim Sarbh will now make his debut on TV as the host of Planet Healers. The show is about various start-up ventures who have found an innovative way of recycling or re-purposing things that harm the environment — like converting plastic to polyfuel or creating paint out of smoke. “When the makers approached me with the gist of what the show is about, I was interested. I wanted to lend my voice and face to it as I believed this is something worth supporting. In the money-minded times that we live in, these start-ups present a model to help the environment while also making money, which is perfect,” says Jim.
The Padmaavat actor, himself, is pretty environment-conscious. “I am a vegetarian. I try to conserve water and avoid plastic as much as I can. I have a car, but I don’t use it very much —only when I go for my shoots, so the carbon footprint is tiny. I am not a major jet-setter, I am a simple man who likes to be on a good beach, have a little swim and play beach football,” he says.
Ask him which medium does he find the most challenging to work for, and he says it depends on the project. “They are all challenging in different ways. But this TV show was quite easy because I am good at reading out loud in English! It is harder when one has to shoot for a scene that involves a lot of Urdu. I have to work a lot on the pre-production then. I recently shot for a pilot for a horror web series and I had a few Urdu lines. I have to learn it properly to sound good and not accidentally misquote the Quran. That was harder though it was one day’s shoot,” he says.
The actor will soon be seen in Zoya Akhtar’s web series besides the upcoming film Photograph that has him playing a cameo. Interestingly, the film, the web series and the TV show are all being released on the same day! “Your whole day will involve seeing my face... sadly for you. But I feel awesome,” jokes the talented actor, signing off.