Exclusive | Jim Sarbh On Starring In Mira Nair's Amrita Sher-Gil Biopic: ‘I Had Written A Play About Her When I Was Younger’

From Neerja (2016), Rocket Boys (2022) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022), to his most recent series Made in India: A Titan Story, Jim Sarbh has secured an identity of his own in the biopic genre. Now, he continues this run with Amri, the upcoming film based on the life of renowned Hungarian-Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil.

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Sarbh spoke about the “fascinating" character of Sher-Gil and the thrill of working with the film’s director and co-writer Mira Nair.

Amri revives the life of Sher-Gil from 1915 to 1941 and traces her journey through Hungary, India and France to explore how it shaped her into one of the greatest avant-garde female artists of the early 20th century.

“I’m very excited to see how it turns out. It has been lovely to work with Mira and the cast she assembled. It is such an inspiring and interesting story,” says Sarbh.

In the film, the actor will be seen as Karl Khandalavala, alongside an eclectic ensemble including Anjali Sivaraman as Sher-Gil, Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil, Krisztián Csákvári as Victor Egan, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas as Madam Azurie, Jaideep Alahwat as Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, Emily Watson as Marie-Antoinette Gottesman and Jean-Phillipe Renaud as Lucien Simon. Chopra-Jonas is also one of the executive producers.

Although a live action of the painter's story has only now been brought to life on the big screen, the actor’s admiration for the artist seems to have been a long-standing affair.

“I had written a play about her when I was much younger,” reveals Sarbh, who also recalls having read a book by Indian contemporary artist and Sher-Gil’s nephew, Vivan Sundaram, which carried a compilation of all of her correspondences.

“It's such a fascinating read! especially because this was the 1940s and you get to see someone so progressive and ahead of her time in so many ways. It's almost like you read her correspondence and it makes you think, ‘What happened to the world? Why do we appear to have gone backwards?’ It's incredible.”