With the world at her feet, stardom beckon the small town girl from Mumbai's Malad. Now everyone knows the name Frieda Pinto
BY SUPRIYA DAVDA | MAR 16, 2009
Q. Firstly congratulations on the Slumdog success. How do you feel with the talks of an Oscar? Has the films immense success hit you yet?
FP. I don’t know how its settling in; so much is hitting you at the same time, you actually need time to watch it happening and absorb as much as you can. And I haven’t really had the time to be honest, and I like that the fact that it’s not sinking in. Actually you do feel very privileged and blessed to be a part of the project. It was a journey and this was my ultimate destination
Q. You’ve done a spot of modeling, when is it that you realise acting was what you wanted to do?
FP. Right, I always wanted to get into acting to begin with but back in Mumbai I found it very difficult to crack into the film industry, its tight and closed, and you don’t have anything like open casting calls like you have over here, its all internal and I found that really hard.
Q. So is there anything like the ‘casting couch’?
FP. I don’t know if I went head on with the casting couch but you do get that vibe, and you do say to yourself ‘stay away’. So yes I did experience that vibe, but that is why I was disillusioned and it happens everywhere. So if I get disillusioned by that, and decide to just back off and give up its never going to work. Infact that made me even more determined to go out there and find a project, which doesn’t involve any of that nonsense and still emerge happy out of it.
Q. How are your parents reacting to this sudden change in your life?
FP. They are a great support to me, and actually when I went back home from Toronto, they were acting strange, they stood with cameras at the door, to take pictures of me.
Q. How was your experience facing the camera for the first time? You did use to present a travel show Full Circle , though that experience must be very different than facing a film camera?
FP. It’s a completely different ball game, and also when you’re hosting a travel show your being yourself, your being Frieda Pinto, and you’re just doing what you do. Basically if you’re a goofy person people are going to see that on camera. People will either make fun of you or accept you completely. When you’re acting, you have let go of your inhibitions and get into the skin of that character, so that makes it even more difficult. Sustaining a character throughout the day was my biggest challenge. At times I would be Frieda and Danny would come up to me and say you can’t be a fighter, just have to be as subtle as possible, and remind yourself over and over again why you can’t be a fighter. You have these padlocks on you and you want to break free. Because you’ll risk getting killed or Jamal killed, you keep telling yourselves this over and over and over again and you literally get brain washed.
Q. Are there any similarities between Latika and you?
FP. Between baby Latika and me, definitely. Very playful by nature. Like when she stood in the rain, completely drenched before Jamal and Salim called her over, minutes away from getting pneumonia, a high fever. She waited for Jamal to say be apart of the three musketeers, so I think I’d do that too. But the older Latika was more responsible, she needs to know what she is doing because she risks anything.
Q. In comparison to Bollywood films, Slumdog Millionaire has portrayed Mumbai as it is. As a Mumbaiker yourself, do you think teh film had captured the real Mumbai?
FP. Mumbai is MASSIVE. If you decide to make a film on Mumbai, you’re two hour film wouldn’t do justice to Mumbai. But what I think is really core and central about Mumbai, if you ever fly into Mumbai , you don’t fly into paradise. With the see on one side and palm trees and bungalows on the other, Mumbai is vast, and you’ll land straight in the slums and that’s the first impression everyone gets of Mumbai. Danny managed to capture exactly that.
