Scottish boy plucked from obscurity stars in Indian film Mimi on Netflix
- Published
Jacob Smith features in Mimi with main star Kriti Sanon
A young Scottish boy was plucked from obscurity to feature in a major new Indian movie on Netflix.
Mimi is a comedy-drama about a woman who agrees to be a paid surrogate for an American couple, to help fund her pursuit of a Bollywood movie career.
Three-year-old Jacob Smith was on a family world trip when he was spotted in Goa and cast in a prominent role with Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi.
Jacob, who is now five, had to learn his lines in Hindi for the part.
He plays Raj, the son of the main character Mimi, as he is growing up.
His parents said they were "proud" of his role in the "beautiful, touching" film.
Mimi, external, produced by Maddock Films and released this week, is already earning glowing reviews from many movie critics.
Kris and Julie Smith and children Erihn and Jacob left Aberdeen in June 2019 to fulfil a "big crazy dream" of travelling around the globe.
Mimi was released this week
They had been to countries including India, Jordan, Albania, Serbia and Hungary, before coronavirus lockdown measures came into force in March last year. This meant they had to spend several months in Nepal.
It was during their earlier time in India that Jacob landed the role, but had managed to keep it quiet until now.
Searching for six months
They arrived in Goa in October 2019
His parents had put Jacob into a local kindergarten, and when they came to pick him up one day in December that year, a casting agency was there.
They relocated to Mumbai in January 2020, which included taking part in acting coaching, and then went to Rajasthan for filming in the February.
Jacob is pictured on set
Mr Smith told BBC Scotland News of the casting agency: "We got talking to them and one thing led to another and that's how Jacob ended up in the movie.
"They had been looking all over India for six months, so we genuinely didn't think they would pick our wee Jacob. They chose him because the director was able to get him to perform on set, which is seriously impressive because he has the attention span of a gnat at times!
"We felt a bit of trepidation whether to put our son into that spotlight. It concerned us to an extent, but once we started speaking to the production company, they managed to ease our concerns."
The Smiths were travelling around the world when Jacob was cast
Jacob's father added: "From the initial conversation, we said we didn't want fame or fortune. We just wanted a great experience for us as a family and in particular Jacob and make sure he's looked after. He was the star of the show".
'A big secret'
His wife Julie said: "We got relocated to Mumbai for acting lessons and he learned how to speak Hindi.
"He had around 20 pages of dialogue in Hindi and he was only three-years-old at the time. I don't want people to think he was a child actor. They came to us and it worked in with our trip. He's just a normal kid picked from a nursery.
"He learned the lines, but he's a Scottish boy and in the film he's an Indian boy brought up in Rajasthan, so they couldn't use his actual voice because he doesn't have the dialect.
"They dubbed over his voice in the end, but if you watch the film his lips work really well with the lines. Everyone in India would know that he was Scottish with his north-east Hindi twang!".
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She said they went from a "really easy Goa life" to all of a sudden a very busy schedule.
"We had to make sure the working environment was fine. It was fun, but it definitely did come with it's stressful moments. But the cast and crew were great - they really looked after him.
"We were really looking forward to going to the premiere to catch up with everyone again and to enjoy seeing Jacob's little face on the big screen. That would have been so marvellous, but obviously because of the pandemic, the premiere couldn't go ahead hence the digital release.
"We're beyond proud. Everyone is buzzing. My mum has watched it a couple of times and cried. There's been lovely feedback. It's like, wow, that's our boy. We're so happy.
Mr Smith added: "It was a big secret - 19 months is a long time to keep a secret".
- Published20 June 2020
- Published13 June 2020
