Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie have landed

Hysteria is mounting in Pune since their arrival as it has not seen such a big shoot, reports Udita Jhunjhunwala.

Pune has not seen something like and nor has the Indian media - the secrecy surrounding the arrival and whereabouts of Hollywood's alpha couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and excitement in the city that suddenly finds itself thrust on the international media map.

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Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, their three children, nannies and bodyguards reportedly landed at 2.45 pm at the Lohagaon airport in a private plane chartered from Gautam Singhania's MillionAir fleet.

Three cars whisked Mr and Mrs Smith and their children off the tarmac. It is believed that they were dropped off at a side entrance (staff entrance) to the Le Meridien hotel.

Sources say they have booked a number of suites (Nos 519-526), to which they immediately retired and remained holed up throughout the evening.

A security guard was assigned to the section, though the room service crew flitted in and out.

Dressed in casual travel gear (sweat pants) and tired after a 12-hour journey from Europe to Pune via Mumbai, the Jolie-Pitt family retired to their rooms and stayed out of sight, leading to further speculation whether they had arrived or not. When asked, management of the Le Meridien hotel remained non-committal.

As the production has signed confidentiality agreements, information was shared, off the record. However Kailash Surendranath, of Kailash Picture Company, overseeing the line production of A Mighty Heart starring Jolie, said he was in Mumbai at a shoot and would join the production team next week. When asked for details of Pitt-Jolie’s plans, Aarti Surendranath said: "No comments." But baby seats and boxes of baby equipment hinted that the family might well have arrived.

Hysteria is mounting in Pune, which has not witnessed a shoot of this scale.