Image Credit: Disney
Disclosure: This post is part of an all expenses paid press trip to Los Angeles provided by Disney. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. All giggles and squeals will also belong to me while attending these events in LA!
If you’ve been reading my blog all week, you’ve seen several posts about my trip to LA last week. There is still so much more to share with you and today I’m going to share more about Million Dollar Arm which hits theaters tomorrow (5/16/14) everywhere! In case you don’t know anything about the movie, it’s about a sports agent that starts the Million Dollar Arm contest to find two kids from India that can pitch fast. This is a true story based on real people. We had the opportunity to interview the real Dinesh Patel, Rinku Singh & JB Bernstein and the actors that played them.
This interview is with the real Dinesh Patel, Rinku Singh & JB Bernstein. Below are a few of my favorite questions and answers from our interviews. All three of these gentlemen are such nice, wholesome people who’s worlds changed back in 2008 when JB Bernstein traveled to India and found Dinesh Patel & Rinku Singh. They are very fortunate for the experience and it showed several times in their interviews.
Image Credit: Disney
Interviews with the Real Dinesh Patel, Rinku Singh & JB Bernstein from Million Dollar Arm
We asked JB if the Million Dollar Arm contest was relatively accurate to how it actually began?
JB said that some of the things they touched on are accurate. But he has Business Partners and they were part of the Idea Generation but it’s hard to tell a Movie from 80 points of view. But in reality, my two Business Partners, Will Chang and Aasif Suferat, who where both in the Movie, helped they were both thinking about these things separately. It wasn’t really until they came together that the idea and they said “we should try to find Talent in India too”.
They decided to try to do this Game Show and see if they could find some Athletes. So it’s pretty accurate in that it shows the inspirations for things but he says he’s not smart enough to come up with this idea about myself. (I found that funny because I think he’s a brilliant guy!)
We asked Dinesh and Rinku how it felt to see themselves in the Movie, Dinesh said this was a big deal for him and for his family. And what did they think about Suraj (who played Rinku). Rinku thought he did a great job. He thinks that Suraj is not just a great Actor, he’s also a great Human. He thought the movie was inspirational and it really reminded him of 2008 and the little Indian that he was back then. LOL
Rinku said that learning the game of baseball really takes some time. He compared it to if you took an American Baseball Player and make them become a Cricket player. They would have no idea how to pitch in Cricket, right? So that was a totally different world for him coming here and playing Professional Baseball. He had no idea. It did take a year but he believes that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing in your life if you’re willing to give whatever you got inside and out, you are gonna succeed.
Rinku said leaving their families was very hard. But beside the family, they left their Culture, Family, Friends, Food, and they were just 18 year old kids. Making that huge decision wasn’t easy for them. They wondered what they were going to do without knowing anything about the American Culture. They didn’t know the language nor did they know anybody besides JB. And their Parents were really afraid cause they never left the Country before.
Rinku went on to tell us that it really was life changing. It taught them that whatever comes your way, you make a decision if you’re willing to give it your all and your going to be happy with the decision you made. He’s very proud of the decision he made come to America. He says “It’s totally amazing. It changed my life”.
Dinesh was very quiet through the interview and Rinku and JB did most of the talking. He seems much more shyer than Rinku. He actually is back in India right now with his family but Rinku is still here playing baseball. When asked if he goes back to India often, Rinku said he goes back once a year to “Recharge is Heart”. That was probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard and when you see the movie and the relationship he has with his mother, you’ll understand that so much more. But even with missing his family, Rinku says he’d do it all over again if he had to. He’s happy with his life even if he misses home.
These guys were just amazing. They aren’t actors, they are real people with real dreams and goals and they are living proof that you can do anything you set your mind to. JB Bernstein took two boys from India that never, ever played baseball nor had they even played cricket and turned them into baseball players. And now boys in India want to be just like them. I’d say that’s pretty inspirational, wouldn’t you?
Of course we got a group picture at the end of the interview…
Million Dollar Arm premiers in theaters Friday, May 16, 2014 everywhere. Check back tomorrow for my movie review.