When hot couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie landed in Pune to shoot A Mighty Heart, based on journalist Daniel Pearl’s killing, the media went berserk trying to follow them wherever they could. Their shoot in India is one of the most happening topics of discussion in the media since Day One. But the inside story is that Brangelina would think twice before shooting in India again. The shoot had commenced in various locations of Pune from Nayansukh Bungalow in Sindhi Society to Latkar Hospital in Aundh with Indian actors Irrfan and Aly Khan also taking part in it.

It’s said the usual problems on Indian film sets — like postponements and lack of organised work — has been one unhappy experience for the crew. In Bollywood, postponements and schedules going awry is not something uncommon. Even in today’s times, laptops are alien to Bollywood film sets. Most films also tend to get over-budget which is another new thing for them to cope up with. It had happened with The Bourne Supremacy crew in Goa in 2004 and even the Oscar-winning Gandhi more than two decades back.

Looks like A Mighty Heart, too, had to face a similar problem in spite of line producer Aarti Surendranath’s claims that they would try to make the crew’s stay as pleasurable as possible in India so that more crews come to the country in future. Now this looks like one great opportunity lost. To top that, some residents are not too happy about the shooting on the Sindhi Society premises. One of them even had a recent argument with Angie’s security guard, Mick over his seeking permission to enter his own house.

Also in a bid to avoid the media, the pair has run into trouble with airport authorities when their Jagson Airlines helicopter made an unauthorised landing at Umed Bhawan — the resort of former ruler Gaj Singh in Jodhpur where they were guests of the royal family in the Diwali celebrations.The one high point in all the negative reports is the fact that Brad and Angie are seriously planning to adopt an Indian baby to add to their growing international brood. They have already applied for adoption at an Indian orphanage and hope to bring the child home by Christmas. They are yet to decide whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. But they are decided on the name, India, irrespective of the child’s sex.

The perfect cat-and-mouse game that Brad and Angie have played since the first day deserves special mention, too. There was a lot of speculation with contrary reports of even their date of landing in the city. The paparazzi had camped in front of the hotel trying to steal a glimpse of the two stars for days on end. The pair was then pictured enjoying a joyride in an autorickshaw with son Maddox, Angelina reading in her car en route to the location, and also leaving from the hotel for the set in the garb of Mariane Pearl (and, of course, looking strikingly similar).

The frenzy had created enough trouble. There were reports about Angie’s bodyguard assaulting a foreign photographer working for a British news agency and a civilian having an accident with one of the chasing paparazzi cars. However, the pair didn’t hold a press conference in spite of repeated requests from the media which many thought would break the ice. In the meantime, Brad Pitt was reported to have made a hush-hush trip to Jaipur to shoot a commercial with Tarsem Singh of R.E.M’s Losing My Religion video and The Cell fame. Angie on her part is said to have learnt some words of Hindi to be more comfortable with the Indian crew, but the couple has not opened up about the shoot details. So guess will have to wait a while to know how unhappy they were about their schedule in India.

(Sampurn)