Chris Hemsworth’s relationship with India goes back well beyond the time he visited the country to shoot his film Extraction. India is the name of the Australian actor’s daughter, and there’s a story behind it.

Hemsworth, who turns 37 on August 11, is married to model and actor Elsa Pataky, who spent a lot of time in India. While promoting his film Men in Black: International in 2019, the actor told IANS, “My wife spent lot of time in India and that was where the name originally came from.” Besides India Rose, Hemsworth and Pataky have two more children – Sasha and Tristan.

The actor has since spoken about the country on several occasions, especially after he shot Extraction in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. “I love the place and the people,” he said at a press event, “Shooting there… There were thousands of people on the streets every day and I have never experienced that on set. It was sort of intimidating as it was exciting because there were so many people.”

He added, “I have such pleasant memories of people and interactions there, and a lot of enthusiasm and positivity. There was real excitement for us shooting there. We had never shot there before. From the crew it felt like there were not many films like this being shot there so there was a unique sort of originality to it.”

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The actor was also surprised by the popularity of his Marvel character Thor in India. In fact, directors Joe and Anthony Russo had said that while making Avengers: Endgame, they’d often inspire themselves by watching in-theatre videos of Indian fans cheering at Thor’s entry in Avengers: Infinity War.

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