A five-year-old boy from Aberdeen now has a starring role in a new Bollywood film.
Jacob Smith was just three when he caught the eye of a casting director while travelling the world with his family.
It turns out he was just what they were looking for to play a young boy in a new film, Mimi, released on Netflix this week.
His mum Julie Smith said that working on the film was a “crazy” once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Julie, husband Kris and children Jacob and Erihn, were travelling the world when Jacob was spotted in Goa. “A Bollywood casting director asked if he would audition for a film,” said Julie.
“Then a few weeks later they got back in touch and said we would love if you could move to Mumbai – and then dropped in that the film wouldn’t be in English.”
The family relocated to Mumbai for the film, spending weeks helping Jacob through acting lessons and learning Hindi.
“He found it all fun and games and was spoilt rotten on set.”
The now five-year-old’s role in the film had to be kept a secret which was made easier for the family as they spent lockdown in Nepal.
Julie said: “It was easy to keep the secret when we were in the mountains, but once we got home to Aberdeen it was really hard.”
