Freida’s ready for Bollywood

It’s the kind of role that a Kareena or Katrina would love to do, but renowned British director Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame dropped it into little-known Freida Pinto’s lap.


And Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire, partly shot in Mumbai and Agra, is now ready to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this October. Freida, 23, is running around in excitement, arranging a visa and making
other plans.

“I hadn’t given acting a thought,” admitted Freida, “and I was kind of threshing around in life when I was asked to audition by the film’s casting director Loveleen Tandon. I didn’t think I’d be selected to play the lead opposite Dev Patel in a Danny Boyle film!” She had to do workshops with the film’s writer Simon Beaufoy and was then ready for shooting.

After Toronto, Freida will go to New York to promote the film. “It’s the kind of life I never imagined for myself,” said the Mumbai girl who’s done amateur theatre and anchored an international travel show for television. She believes Boyle wanted an unknown face and someone who knew the pulse of Mumbai. “I fitted the bill because I’ve spent most of my life here. I’m a pucca Mumbai girl,” said Freida.

Slumdog Millionaire, she said, has changed her life. “Dev Patel (a household name in Britain for his role in the teleserial Skins) was completely hassle-free. The shooting went off like a charm. Boyle’s unit was immune to all the problems that foreign units usually face in Mumbai,” said the debutant actress who is now reading several scripts and getting ready for Bollywood!

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com