The hotel rooms have been booked, all 140 of them. The sets have been built. Even the paparazzi have flown in. But Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have yet to turn up in public.

Brangelina are thought to have flown into the Indian city of Pune by private jet today for the making of A Mighty Heart, a film based on a book by Marianne Pearl about her journalist husband Daniel Pearl.

According to the Times of India, the couple arrived "wearing white coloured full-sleeve T-shirts and trousers and exchanged greetings with the airport staff before boarding a white Mercedes van". Pitt apparently held Shiloh-Nouvel, the couple's baby girl born in May.

Pune, a leafy city in the heart of India, was chosen because Pakistan, where Pearl was beheaded by terrorists in 2002, refused permission to shoot the movie.

Instead the streets of Karachi and the broad avenues of Islamabad will be re-created in Mumbai and in Pune's whitewashed villas. Shooting is supposed to start next week with Jolie playing the role of Pearl's wife.

Given the sensitive nature of the film there have been reports that India's intelligence agencies have taken a keen interest in tracking the movements of the two stars.

Reaction from Bollywood to the arrival of Hollywood's star couple has been mixed. Some have gushed about the opportunity to meet the worldwide celebrities, but many have affected a haughty coolness.