Scottish child from Aberdeen landed a dream role in a recent Netflix and JioCinema release Mimi starring Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi in the lead. Jacob Smith plays Mimi’s Son Raj Rathore in the film. The Movie is directed by Laxman Utekar and directed by Dinesh Vijan.
Young Jacob Smith who was cast for the role was on a world tour with his parents, Kris and Julie Smith, as well as older sister Erihn. Jacob was three at the time when he was spotted in Goa by the filmmakers.
The comedy-drama is starring Kriti Sanon in the titular role of Mimi, who opts to be a surrogate mother for a foreign couple to help fund her dreams. When pregnancy tests reveal that Mimi’s unborn child has Down Syndrome, the American couple has a change of heart about the baby, leave for America telling Bhanu that they don’t want the baby anymore.
“We got talking to them and one thing led to another and that’s how Jacob ended up in the movie,” dad Kris told BBC Scotland.
“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,” he said with a laugh.
“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.” Jacob’s father said.
Jacob’s family moved to Mumbai, in January 2020, and enrolled Jacob in acting classes. They then went to Rajasthan, where Mimi was shot, for filming in February.
With cinemas still shuttered across India due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mimi was supposed to release on 31 July but instead released on Netflix as well as JioCinema on Monday, July 26.