In the past few years, Jim Sarbh has dabbled more in the OTT arena than he has in the big screen movie space. And the actor claims that his OTT initiatives have reintroduced him to his fanbase in a way that he couldn’t have done through his films. “Bollywood is a commercial beast. It works on numbers, and no one can say anything about those numbers,” shares Sarbh. 

And it is because of this distinction — the absence of the number game — that the digital space scores higher for Sarbh than theatrical outings. “Within the web platforms, there is a scope for working in different genres. Also, many people have got chances they may not have before, and that’s a good thing. Yes, that is also the case with me,” says the actor, who has been a part of web projects such as Made In Heaven, Yeh Ballet (2020), Taish, House Arrest (2019) and Smoke.

The 34-year-old has several Bollywood projects — Neerja, A Death In The Gunj (both 2016), Padmaavat and Sanju (both 2018) — to his credit as well. Ask him how he chooses those ventures, and he says, “Sometimes the role is interesting, sometimes the project or director is nice, and sometimes it is because you owe a favour to a director from an earlier (collaboration) or your friends are in the production team.”

However, when it comes to his web projects, it’s a whole different ball game. Sarbh claims that he focuses completely on the role and the value it provides for him as a performer, something that has happened in the case of his recent web series, Rocket Boys, in which he plays Indian physicist Dr Homi J Bhabha.

He says, “I said yes to it immediately. While preparing for the role, I did my research and fact-checking. But we had a great team, and I trusted them. I like to prep hard and rehearse intensely.”