July 15, 2014
`Million Dollar Arm`, a genuine story of two Indian town young men who happen to end up baseball stars in the US, debuted at the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) and is slated to open in theaters here one month from now.
The Disney film takes after the life of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel from Uttar Pradesh as their lives are changed by a TV reality show.
`Life of Pi` star Suraj Sharma and `Slumdog Millionaire` star Madhur Mittal star as Rinku and Dinesh in the film while `mad Men` star Jon Hamm plays JB Bernstein.
"This was one of those movies where everything fit like a glove," maker Mark Ciardi told crowds at the UK debut.
"We had a tiny month to shoot this in India just before the monsoon and everything just seemed to work. There was no shortage of talent there," he included.
In light of genuine occasions, the film recounts the story of Bernstein as a down-on-his-fortunes sports operator who hits upon the thought of taking advantage of fixation on cricket by searching for a quick paced pitcher for baseball.
"I finished the script and loved it and then looked back to the title page and went, `Wait a minute. This is true?` I am a huge baseball fan and somehow this flew under my radar," the performing artist says in reference to the film, which has music by A R Rahman and is guided by Craig Gillespie.
Mittal said he needed to loan believability to the story notwithstanding never having played baseball.
"I had a huge responsibility on my shoulders and the one person I really wanted to impress was the real Dinesh. I had never thrown a baseball in my life and had to hit the gym for this role. I have tried my best and my reward was when Dinesh came up to me hugged me after a screening in the US," uncovered Mittal.
'Million Dollar Arm' was expected to be less about baseball and all the more about the exceptional bond in the middle of JB and Rinku and Dinesh.
Ciardi reviews: "We saw JB at a Super Bowl party right before he left for India and I remember him saying he was going there to do a reality show. It sounded crazy, but two years later he had gotten two kids signed and he came to us with this story. It was a really compelling and heart-warming story that truly resonated with us.
"The idea that this guy goes to India with the sole intention to find an athlete to bring back and get signed to Major League Baseball, and at first they're just an investment but it turns into a real family relationship, that's the emotional core and through-line that appealed to us."
The film, which is currently situated for its DVD discharge in India, will get its UK realistic discharge on August 29 as a feature of Disney's overall discharge methodology.
The Disney film takes after the life of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel from Uttar Pradesh as their lives are changed by a TV reality show.
`Life of Pi` star Suraj Sharma and `Slumdog Millionaire` star Madhur Mittal star as Rinku and Dinesh in the film while `mad Men` star Jon Hamm plays JB Bernstein.
"This was one of those movies where everything fit like a glove," maker Mark Ciardi told crowds at the UK debut.
"We had a tiny month to shoot this in India just before the monsoon and everything just seemed to work. There was no shortage of talent there," he included.
In light of genuine occasions, the film recounts the story of Bernstein as a down-on-his-fortunes sports operator who hits upon the thought of taking advantage of fixation on cricket by searching for a quick paced pitcher for baseball.
"I finished the script and loved it and then looked back to the title page and went, `Wait a minute. This is true?` I am a huge baseball fan and somehow this flew under my radar," the performing artist says in reference to the film, which has music by A R Rahman and is guided by Craig Gillespie.
Mittal said he needed to loan believability to the story notwithstanding never having played baseball.
"I had a huge responsibility on my shoulders and the one person I really wanted to impress was the real Dinesh. I had never thrown a baseball in my life and had to hit the gym for this role. I have tried my best and my reward was when Dinesh came up to me hugged me after a screening in the US," uncovered Mittal.
'Million Dollar Arm' was expected to be less about baseball and all the more about the exceptional bond in the middle of JB and Rinku and Dinesh.
Ciardi reviews: "We saw JB at a Super Bowl party right before he left for India and I remember him saying he was going there to do a reality show. It sounded crazy, but two years later he had gotten two kids signed and he came to us with this story. It was a really compelling and heart-warming story that truly resonated with us.
"The idea that this guy goes to India with the sole intention to find an athlete to bring back and get signed to Major League Baseball, and at first they're just an investment but it turns into a real family relationship, that's the emotional core and through-line that appealed to us."
The film, which is currently situated for its DVD discharge in India, will get its UK realistic discharge on August 29 as a feature of Disney's overall discharge methodology.
