He grew up in India. He rejected England. He spoke Hindi better than any Englishman around him. Jim Corbett was no ordinary colonial figure, and Jim Sarbh knows it. Now he wants to bring that story to the screen, and he is not hiding it.
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Actor Jim Sarbh is currently riding high on the success of his latest OTT show. But his mind is already on a very different project. He wants to bring the story of legendary hunter and author Jim Corbett to the big screen. And he wants to play the man himself.
Jim Sarbh spoke to IANS during the promotional events for ‘Made in India: A Titan Story’ in Mumbai. In the show, he plays Xerxes Desai, the executive who helped build the Titan brand under the Tata Group. Naseeruddin Shah plays industrialist J.R.D. Tata alongside him. The show is streaming on Amazon MX Player and has received strong audience response.
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It was during these promotions that Sarbh shifted the conversation to a dream project.
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Sarbh told IANS: “I’m fascinated with that guy. I hope somebody makes a show or a movie based on him. I would love to play the character.”
His reasons are specific. He described Corbett as “an English guy raised in India” who “absolutely rejected wanting to go back home” and “fell in love with the place.”
That emotional connect with India is at the heart of Sarbh’s interest in the story.
Sarbh was direct about what he finds compelling in Corbett’s character. He said Corbett “did not enjoy his compatriots and how they were treating India, and thought they were exploiting it completely.”
This sets Corbett apart from the colonial figures of his era. He sided with the land he grew up in rather than with the empire he was born into.
Sarbh also pointed out that Corbett “could speak Hindi better than anybody else around.” That detail alone says a lot about how deeply Corbett had rooted himself in Indian life.
Sarbh also spoke about the complexity in Corbett’s relationship with hunting. He said Corbett “started out as a hunter because that’s kind of what he had done when he was younger,” but eventually “hung up his gun” and “would only come back in at specific times when there was a man-eater basically that needed hunting.”
The actor went further. Corbett reportedly said that “if he had grown up in a different time when the camera was invented instead of the gun, he would have never ever picked up a gun.”
Sarbh explained the practical reality behind Corbett’s hunting. He said that “back then the only way to go into the jungle for 5-6 days was if you were a hunter. There was no other financial fiscal way to support it.”
That context reframes Corbett not as a trophy hunter but as a man shaped by the limitations of his time.
Sarbh ended with a clear call to filmmakers. He said: “What an interesting, lovely story. I hope that gets made one day. Someone makes it.”
No project has been officially announced. No director or producer has been attached. But Sarbh’s interest is on record.
Jim Corbett (1875-1955) was a British-Indian hunter, author, and conservationist. He was born in Nainital and spent much of his life in the Kumaon hills.
Corbett tracked and shot numerous man-eating tigers and leopards in the early 20th century. He later became a wildlife photographer and wrote books including ‘Man-Eaters of Kumaon’. The Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand is named after him.
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