Freida Pinto talks about roles beyond Hollywood in Bollywood

Freida Pinto took time off from her job as a jury member at the Red Sea Film Festival to give an interview. variety About her career and future hopes.

The Indian actor shot to international fame with his starring role in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and continues to contribute to the wider film industry. “I’ve always looked at movies on a global scale,” she says. variety. “After ‘Slumdog,’ I could have easily played all the Indian roles, like girlfriend and sidekick, or I could have gone to India and done something just in India.”

Instead, she seeks challenging roles and often plays non-Indian characters such as Iranian or Arab women, a choice that is currently causing controversy, such as the Palestinian girl in Miral. She admits that.

“I know it’s not okay these days because the world is open and there’s a lot of talent,” Pinto says. “But I don’t mean this in a grandiose way, but in a movie like ‘Miral,’ where I played a Palestinian girl and it was a controversial subject, I sat down in my seat. They needed someone back then who could put down a cigarette butt. Now I understand that’s why they chose me, but at the time I thought: , y, z, and I feel it within myself. The way I think now is completely different than the way I thought then. But these films have opened doors and made people realize this. It made me more aware of the whole region. There’s a lot of talent in this region and a lot of stories that aren’t being told enough. I wouldn’t do something like that now, but I’m so proud of what I did then. thinking”

What’s it like to be in Saudi Arabia, which has been largely responsible for bringing Bollywood into the mainstream of Western culture, where its stars are greeted with such acclaim?

“Bollywood is everywhere in this region, the Middle East and North Africa. I think it’s big in Japan too. When we were filming in Israel and Palestine, you could go to the Old City of Jerusalem and literally see DVDs of old Bollywood movies being sold. I remember him often saying “Hind,” which means Indian in Arabic. They asked me if I knew all the old Bollywood actors, even if I was playing a character, and I obviously said no. ”

So what’s the appeal?

“I think what really works is escapism, and that’s what Bollywood movies do best. I love what Western countries do, but there’s something magical about Bollywood. , it’s always about family, love and culture, and that’s something that immediately resonates with the Middle East as well. Unity, respect for elders, all of that is represented in Indian films, and Saudi Arabia and India are different. Although it is a country, we have no ties to it. The Western world and its beliefs are more nuclear than the extended family.”

This global perspective will determine Pinto’s own future as an actor and producer.

“Now the chances are changing. We’ll celebrate ‘Minari’ and ‘Parasite’ at the Oscars.” If you think Hollywood is all there is to it, you’re in a bubble. There are several Asian films that are underutilized and underexplored, but they are all very successful in their own countries as well as in other countries. I don’t just want to work in Hollywood and work with filmmakers that I hear a lot about. That’s why I love working with Nadine Labaki. I loved her first film, Caramel, and hoped that I would get the chance someday, but now with my own production company, I can create that opportunity myself if I want. ”

2024 is a big year with a number of potential projects coming to fruition, including appearing on Season 2 of the Apple TV+ show “Surface” and a film adaptation of Onjali Q. Rauf’s “The Boy at the Back of the Class.” It looks like it’s going to be a great year. As a producer, she has four of her projects near the ‘finish line’, including a Deepa Mehta film.

“Everything is coming together,” she says.