How do actors go about playing historical figures? Do they sit in libraries reading biographies or watching videos and intricately observe the manner the real-life figures scratch their chins? How much of the actor lives in the character? Where do characters come from? “Inside,” says Jim Sarbh, who plays the charismatic physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha in both seasons of the historical-drama Rocket Boys. “Every actor throughout the history of time draws from himself. You are you, you can’t be anybody else.”
In Jim’s case, this is true to a certain extent. There are tinges of his off-screen charm and suaveness in many of his characters from Padmaavat’s Malik Kafur to Made in Heaven’s Adil Khanna. Even recently in Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway he wore impeccable dark suits and lifted an eyebrow before giving sharp retorts in court as a defence lawyer. Jim’s Homi Bhabha is sexy, witty and magnetic, but he won’t take any credit for it. “Mrinalini Sarabhai (physicist Vikram Sarabhai’s wife) in her memoir writes about the time she, her husband and Mr. Bhabha were all invited to an awards function in a South American country,” he says. “Mr. Bhabha was supposed to be awarded at the event. His category was announced and he was nowhere to be seen. He finally arrived towards the end, after having two glasses of champagne, with a Hollywood A-list actress on his arm. So, I don’t think I brought anything to the table. If anything, I probably made the character more serious.”
Both Jim and Ishwak Singh, who plays physicist Vikram Sarabhai in the series, believe in the necessity of homework, although their styles are different. “The question is how do you play somebody who is smarter than you,” says Jim. “I think of situations like how does a person who thinks twice as fast as you do approach a problem, deliver bad news, banter with somebody, broker a compromise, or make situations light.” Ishwak seems to be more academic. “It was more about trying to get in Vikram Sarabhai’s head, understanding his influences. I researched what it was like to be an Amdavadi (resident of Ahmedabad) in those days. I read the literature which Vikram must have to understand his motivations,” he shares.
The actors also drew from each other a lot and their on-set dynamics aided in elevating the scenes. “I have the habit of doing a scene in ten different ways. Ishwak used to come on set with a certain way of playing a character and it was fun to break that approach,” says Jim. Ishwak adds that over two seasons he has understood Jim’s way of handling a scene. “Previously also when I have worked with actors like Jaideep Ahlawat in Pataal Lok or Manoj Bajpayee in Aligarh, some parts of them have stayed with me. I kind of imbibe the craft of the co-actor.”
Playing rocket scientists can be tough with all the jargon and the technical terms being thrown around in casual conversation. Did they always understand what they were saying? “Oh, I know now what a Geiger-Muller counter means,” says Ishwak. “I read, made diagrams, even saw YouTube videos…”
“I just attained surface-level knowledge to play the scene believably. I am an actor, not a physicist,” adds Jim. “Although, I knew what to point to when my character says Giga Counter, otherwise I would have appeared as a dimwit.
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