Tim Cook hangs out with Bollywood stars on his first day in India
Apple CEO Tim Cook is on his maiden official visit to India to expand the company's presence in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, but he also took out time from his busy schedule to hobnob with several Bollywood stars, suggesting that Apple may have more than a passing interest in India's massive film industry.
Cook was reportedly keen to meet Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, with the Apple team contacting the actor to organise a meeting between the two. In turn, Khan invited the Apple CEO for a private party at his house.
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Cook began his first day in India with a symbolic visit to Mumbai's popular Siddhivinayak Temple dedicated to the Hindi elephant-headed god Ganesha. He followed this with a series of business meetings with Indian corporate heads, such as Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, ICICI bank managing director Chanda Kochhar, and Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood. He visited billionaire Mukesh Ambani's house Antilla to discuss iPhone plans on Reliance Jio's upcoming 4G LTE network. After announcing the opening of an app development and design centre in India, he also met four Indian app developers.
However, Bollywood was always on his mind. Cook also headed to the city's iconic Mehoob film studio, meeting director Mukesh Bhatt for a guided tour of the sets of his upcoming horror film. Bhatt revealed that Cook did not want to "skip Bollywood on his first visit to India".
"He seemed keen to see how Apple could partner with the industry -- after all, movies don't have to be made by just big film producers these days, it can be shot on an iPhone," he said, adding that Cook seemed especially interested in the studio's history.
He ended the day by hanging out with a bunch of Bollywood actors at Khan's party. Also in attendance were actors Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, director Farah Khan, award-winning composer AR Rahman, and tennis star Sania Mirza. Several guests tweeted about the dinner, with Khan calling Cook "a rockstar".
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Cook is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to discuss the opening of Apple stores in the country.
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Topics Apple
Sonam Joshi was Mashable's principal correspondent in India. She has previously worked for The Times of India group and Time Out Delhi, and written for The Caravan, Mint Lounge and Yahoo Originals.
