*I attended this event as a guest of Disney/ABC/DisneyXD and any opinions are 100% my own.
Photo Credit: MomStart.com
When we received our Interview Itinerary for the #MillionDollarArmEvent in LA , I knew it was going to be great. Jon Hamm was among the interviews and he is a gentleman that so many people love right now, thanks to Mad Men. I wrote up my post to start gathering questions for Mr. Hamm from you guys. Then I went back to read over the itinerary again. That is when I was hit in the face with awesomeness. You see, I had over looked an interview. An interview that honestly meant more to me than any actor or actress. We were going to be interviewing the REAL PEOPLE behind the REAL STORY that Million Dollar Arm tells! Getting to meet the person that changed the lives of two men, and an entire country really….well words can not describe how honored I felt. Heck, I still feel that honor as I write this post and look at the pictures……I can only hope that what J.B. Bernstein, Rinku, and Dinesh had to say, will move you as much as it moved me.
All right, lets play ball!
When I watch a film that is based on a true story, I often wonder how much of the film really depicts the truth. Getting the opportunity to interview J.B. Bernstein meant we could find out if that is the case with Million Dollar Arm. How accurate is the Million Dollar Arm film to how the Million Dollar Arm competition came to be?
J.B. Bernstein: “Some of the things they touch on, the inspirations, they are accurate. I have Business Partners and they were part of the Idea Generation, but it’s hard to tell a movie from 80 points of view. In reality, my two Business Partners, Will Chang and Ash Vasudevan, where both in the movie. We kind of were both thinking about these things separately, and it wasn’t really until we came together that the idea came about. This nebulous fuzzy thing of ‘Hey, we should try to find Talent in India too. We should try to do this Game Show and see if we could find some Athletes.’ So the film, it’s pretty accurate in that it shows the inspirations for things but obviously, I’m not smart enough to come up with this idea about myself.”
Now that we know how Bernstein feels about the accuracy of the film, we had to find out what he thought of the handsome Jon Hamm playing him! If it were me, I would be totally fine with my life being portrayed on-screen by a gorgeously glamorous woman. Then again, I am a mommy from the Midwest, not a life and country changing sports agent so I would have to settle for a D-Lister like Kathy Griffin playing me.
J.B. Bernstein: “Well you know, the resemblance is striking and I mean that if they struck Jon in the face with a Shovel. You guys, I’m sure some of you, watch ‘Mad Men.‘ I guess a lot of women watch that show. I don’t know why….”
Rinku: “Obviously, cause they love him.”
J.B. Bernstein: Exactly, exactly. It’s a good Show. He is probably one of the hottest Actors in Hollywood. Everybody’s throwing parts at him. Every Studio wants to get him into a Film. They realize ‘Mad Men’s‘ winding down. He’s the It guy. The fact that with everything available to you, that he chose to play me, is very humbling and surreal. He gets me really, really well. There are parts of the Movie where friends of mine have seen him and go ‘Oh My God, how long did he stay with you?’ I didn’t meet him til halfway through filming so he obviously thought like I’m the most trite person ever or they wrote a great script. Tt was really humbling and he’s become a good friend and someone that I really care about, and someone who is just a genuinely good guy. You meet a lot of Celebrities in my line of business and you realize they’re just like regular people. Some are very nice and some are jerks and the richer they are, the more free they are to be their true person. Jon is just one of these guys who probably has been the same since he was a kid. He’s the same guy, very even keeled, nice guy and I’m really lucky to have him play me. It hasn’t much at home though. My 3 year old doesn’t know who Jon Hamm is and doesn’t care.”
Photo Credit: Disney
One of the things I walked away from the Million Dollar Arm Premier with, was a new-found craving to learn more about India. The culture, the people, and the place itself. Movies often portray countries a certain way and we wondered how to true to the Indian Culture Million Dollar Arm was. Lucky for us, we had Dinesh and Rinku to ask. They grew up in India before winning the first Million Dollar Arm, and could tell us if the film portrayed their lives and country accurately.
Rinku: “Let’s talk if I’m Indian and I’ve never been to America. I’m going to be thinking exactly the same thing as you’re thinking right now cause you never been to India. I never been to America just like you never been to India. It’s called a movie obviously, and there’s things they have done. There’s so many places that it is like that. If you really wanted to make a movie, you can go out in the country, in America. You will find places like that, that you can make it look like that. I’ve been here for 6 years. There are places like that in India, but it’s called movie, it’s not 100% true.
J.B. Bernstein: To add onto what Rinku is saying, I’ve been to a lot of places in India, maybe even more than these guys. It’s so diverse. There are so many types of places. There’s huge cities obviously Delhi, and Bangalore, and these amazing technical Centers, huge Office Buildings. Proctor and Gamble, Apple, everybody’s there. Then there are Villages like where these guys came from which are kind of rural. What you would almost call Middle Class. Farming Villages. Everybody lives off the land and they have honorable jobs. They work hard and have strong family units. There are also Villages that are somewhere in between. They’re like what you might call Mid-Cities like Varanasi which is about 30 minutes from where Dinesh lives, which happens to be the birth place of 3 religions. It’s more of an Old World City than a City like Delhi, which looks almost like Boston or something. The diversity from place to place is so broad that there’s no way you could do a movie about India and characterize the entire Country. Where these guys came from were what India might consider almost like Middle Classes, nice Farming Villages. They both had good homes, they both had good families, and they both went to High School. As a matter of fact, Rinku’s family especially, he is very proud that his Father was able to send all 7 kids through School. Every single one of them. It’s really an amazing…His Dad, as amazing as Rinku is, I hope you don’t mind me saying, his Dad is even more amazing. Rinku and Dinesh’ Parents as well…the lengths that they went to, to keep the family together and I think that’s kind of apropos for this group, is amazing. That’s the story more so than the Geography or the trappings of Villages or whatever it may be. It’s the length Indian families will go to keep together as a family. That is tow, the best way I would characterize India. Is that fair?
RINKU: You said it perfect.
It has been 6 years since Dinesh and Rinku came to the US. I can’t imagine what it would be like to just up and move to another country. Whether it is to fulfill a dream or not, it would have to hard to adjust. Plus, we live next door to my parents so I know I would get homesick in a whole different country.
Rinku: Home is always gonna be home no matter what. No matter how happy you are in other Country, you are always gonna miss home. I’m pretty sure that it would be the same for you guys. Doesn’t matter where you live. You always miss your home. Like for me, being here…I am happy to be here because my dream is here. My dream is here. I have my Mom and Dad there, in India, and I go back home once a year to get my heart charged, get ready for another year. Talking about being happy in America? Yes. Like I said, home is always gonna be home and I am always gonna miss home and I’ve been missing it so…..
J.B. Bernstein: Dinesh has had the experience of both. Now you’re back India and lived here for awhile. What do you think?
Dinesh: When I was here, I missed a lot of home. But right now, I’m living in India with my Family. I’m happy.
J.B. Bernstein: Do you miss America now that you’re back home?
Dinesh: Yeah
J.B. Bernstein: What do you miss? Movies? TV?
Dinesh: Everything.
J.B. Bernstein: Food?
Dinesh: Of Course. Pizza.
J.B. Bernstein: Of all the true parts, that is one of them!
To J.B., Rinku, and Dinesh, you guys have given inspiration and dreams to so many people. Thank you for being you and pursing your dreams, even when faced with struggles. I hope your story reaches far and wide and makes an impact on others like it has on me.
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