Hollywood comes to India

Finally, Hollywood’s here too. After scores of Indian films being shot in UP, the cast and crew of 'Million Dollar Arm' is in the city to shoot for the film. Directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Jon Hamm, Suraj Sharma, the film was shot at the Amausi airport yesterday.
The TOI shutterbug captured the actors and crew as they arrived for the shoot. While Suraj came in later, Madhur Mittal, who audiences would remember from Slumdog Millionaire, in which he played Salim Malik, was there, and it is now confirmed that Mittal is playing Dinesh Patel in this movie based on a reality show to select Major League Baseball pitchers.
While the Hollywood shooting did not attract crowds the way a Bollywood shoot does, a lot of international artistes were present on location. Hollywood actor Alan Arkin who plays an important role in the movie. Aasif Mandvi, who’s featured in TV shows like Sex And The City, and CSIand played the lead role in Mystic Masseur was also spotted at the shooting. Pitobash Tripathy, who’s starred in Shanghai and Shor In The City, is also part of the film and in town.
Resul Pookutty, who won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for Slumdog Millionaire, is part of this venture as well, and is in Lucknow these days. Producer Mark Ciardi, a former Major League Baseball pitcher himself, is here as well.
The cast and crew will be headed to Agra next.