After Diwali and World Cup 2023, our collective attention will swing to the Hilton in New York. That’s where two Indian actors and a standup artiste will be in contention for Best Performance and Best Comedy Series at the International Emmy Awards on November 20.

“It’s a very big moment,” exulted filmmaker Vipul Shah. Wife Shefali Shah is one of four nominees from all over the world for Best Performance by an Actress for her work as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi in Delhi Crimes (Season 2).“I will be going to New York, I want to be there for her,” said Shefali’s admiring husband.

Although the UK figures in every important category, India hasn’t done too badly with three nominations including Vir Das: Landing in the Best Comedy Series.

There’s also excitement over Jim Sarbh’s nomination for Best Performance as Actor for his tailormade perfection as Homi J. Bhabha. Show creator Nikkhil Advani and first-time director Abhay Pannu are going to cheer him. “I’ll be cheering from here,” promised Saba Azad, who played Pipsi, the spirited Parsi friend Homi Bhabha was deeply involved with but could never pop the question to.

Hrithik Roshan is so famous that Saba may be better known as his girlfriend. But anyone who’s met her would realise there’s more to her than just her celebrated boyfriend. When she sang and danced on a fashion ramp, there were cheers and jeers, and a whole lot of surprised eyebrows. But that’s just it. Saba has been a musician and performer long before she gained fame as Hrithik’s girlfriend. And she continues to have a life of her own, still singing with the band she co-founded with Naseeruddin Shah’s son Imaaduddin. “Almost every weekend,” she told me when I asked her if she was still doing gigs.

For her break in Rocket Boys, which required not singing skills but the sophistication of an upper-crust Parsi, Saba had aced the auditions. And, out of all the musician’s roles that came to her, she’s picked Songs of Paradise. Patterned on Padma Shri Raj Begum, the first woman musician of Kashmir who overcame gender challenges unique to the region, it was a role she warmed up to instantly.

With her radiant complexion, Saba could pass off as a Kashmiri, although she’s as Punjabi as anyone whose name is Saba Singh Grewal. She’s a hearty Amritsari, her tiny waist quite misleading.

“I’ve seen her eat,” vouched her Rocket Boys director.

“I’m a pig,” Saba happily described herself. So how does she have that teenager’s waistline? “I work out, a lot.”

That’s what she has in common with the Greek God of Fitness. Hrithik had once described how much of a foodie he was: “I even get excited thinking what’s going to be served to me on a flight.”

Of course, it goes beyond food and fitness. Well-spoken with a casual friendliness, it was easy to see how the quieter Hrithik was bowled over by Saba.

To return to Jim, he’s at ease in the US — he graduated from Emory University. Playing the cultured Homi Bhabha was also home territory for the actor who comes from a well-to-do Parsi family. But it was only after he played thegenius that Jim realised that Homi and Freddie Mercury were the two big legends of his community.

Add the name Tata to complete the trio that’s the pride of the Parsis.

Jim has a rare resume. Khalil the terrorist in Neerja. Zubin the drug dealer in Sanju. Brian in Death In The Gunj. Bhabha in Rocket Boys. The Norwegian lawyer in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway. All characters drawn from real life.

If someone makes a film on Tata — J.R.D. or Ratan — it would be right up Jim’s street. And if anybody were to make another film or a show on Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek — who won an Oscar for playing the Queen lead singer in Bohemian Rhapsody — will lose that assignment to aapro Jim.