Suraj Sharma as Rinku Singh in Million Dollar Arm

About two years ago, when t2 met Suraj Sharma during the media rounds for Life of Pi, the actor had said: “Eventually, I want to go to NYU to study filmmaking. I want to go there so badly.” Since that interview, Suraj has walked the red carpet at the Oscars, posed for fashion spreads in American magazines like GQ, made a Disney film — Million Dollar Arm — where he plays Rinku Singh, a real-life javelin thrower from Lucknow who turns into a professional baseball pitcher after he is hand-picked by a sports agent, played in the film by Jon ‘Don Draper’ Hamm... and yes, he enrolled at New York University.

When we spoke with the actor, he was juggling studying for his exams at NYU with a high-profile premiere on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles for his second film. “It’s been crazy,” said the actor. Hours before the premiere, Suraj spoke to us about the film and Bollywood.

To study filmmaking at NYU was your dream and it came true. Congratulations!

(Laughs) Thank you. Yes, I was quite obsessive about the fact that I wanted to study here and I am so glad that I pursued it. I have learnt so much in the last year. I am surrounded by such inspiring classmates and professors. It’s been fantastic.

What is life on campus like? Do you get recognised?

(Pauses) Initially I did. So, people would come up and talk to me. But it’s all settled down now. People have figured out that I am normal. Also, people in New York are very chilled. No one really cares about who you are or where you come from.

Talking about Million Dollar Arm, did you know about Rinku’s story before the film came your way?

Nope, I didn’t. And it’s one of the reasons why I took the role. It’s really sad that people don’t know what Rinku and Dinesh Patel (played in the film by Madhur Mittal) accomplished. They were two young boys who impressed an Amercian sports agent enough to take them to the US and try out for the professional Baseball League. It’s no small feat! They played a sport they didn’t know and lived in a country where they didn’t speak the language. It’s incredible and the world needs to know their story.

How much did you know about baseball before you were offered the film?

Nothing. I must have tried playing it on the Nintendo Wii (laughs). Thankfully, they sent a baseball coach over to train Madhur and me.

There are parallels to Rinku’s journey and yours…

…Ya, absolutely. I did identify with Rinku. Like him, when I auditioned for Life of Pi or went to the US, I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know what to do. He was thrown into a situation that came purely out of luck and he had to do it. (Pauses) Stuff’s just happening around you, and to you and somehow you are far away from it and right in the middle at the same time.

And you also hate cricket like Rinku?

(Laughs) Oh yes! I hate cricket. I am more a football fanatic.

We hear that during the shoot for Million Dollar Arm you got caught in a club for being underage?

(Laughs) Yes, that happened. I was underage in the US at that time while Madhur was not. He took me along with him to play pool one night. It was a bar that he had visited before. He plays a lot of pool while I can barely get by. We had had a tough day of shooting, so it seemed like a good idea. So we went in and just about when we had set up the table, a bouncer came and asked me for an ID. Obviously, I didn’t have one so we got thrown out.

Million Dollar Arm is your second Hollywood project. Are you not interested in Bollywood?

I am interested in Bollywood, but no one has approached me for anything. I recently did a small indie film called Umrika that has an Indian director. Don’t know if you’d call that a Bollywood film.