Promotion for the film ‘Million Dollar Arm’.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: To help promote its new baseball film, about a US-based sports agent who brings two Indian boys to America and grooms them into Major League Baseball pitchers, Disney has announced that it will hold an event later this month in which the person who can throw the fastest pitch over 100 miles per hour gets a nice little prize: one million dollars.
The event, which will be held on April 26 in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, is being held to promote Million Dollar Arm, the new film starring Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi), and Madhur Mittal (Slumdog Millionaire). Hamm plays the role of J.B. Bernstein, a real-life sports agent who fell on hard times about ten years ago. While flipping channels one night, he came across Indians playing cricket, and realized that the mechanics of both cricket and baseball were remarkably similar.
Bernstein hopped on a plane and flew to India, where he created the “Million Dollar Arm” television show. Thousands of Indians from across the nation competed on the show, with the prize being that the winners would get to come to the US and stand a chance at joining the MLB. The winners were Rinku Singh (Sharma) and Dinesh Patel (Mittal), but the two 18 year-old boys face difficulties as they adapt to a new sport, a new country, and a new home.
The publicity competition is open to all US residents 18 years of age and older, and preliminary rounds will be conducted at Disneyland and Disney World, located in Anaheim and Orlando, respectively. The top three contestants will receive tickets to the Million Dollar Arm film premiere, while the fastest pitcher will get one million dollars.
One caveat is that the winning pitcher has to be at least 100 miles per hour, which is easier said than done. In fact, the fastest pitch ever recorded is just slightly higher: 105.1 mph, which was hit by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman in 2011.
The film is produced and distributed by Disney, and also stars Indian-origin actor Asif Mandvi (Spider-Man 2), Oscar-winner Alan Arkin (Argo), and Bill Paxton (Titanic). Renowned Indian maestro A.R. Rahman, who won two Academy Awards for his work on Slumdog Millionaire, has composed the film’s score, and the film is directed by Australian filmmaker Craig Gillespie.
Million Dollar Arm hits theaters on May 16. Below is the trailer: