Shinata Blog: Shooting Star Freida Pinto

Hey guys thanks for checking my blogs, which I am aiming to update regularly to make up for lost time whilst I was away in India and Dubai. It’s amazing to see Indian and Brit-Asian talent go global recently be it beauty pageants where India recently won Miss Tourism International 2008 with stunning model Manvasi Mamgai, and India also recently was crowned as 1st runner up at Miss World 2008 with Parvathy Omanakuttan also Indian designers showcasing there talent at International runways and even Bollywood meeting Hollywood with former Miss World Aishwarya Rai who is currently being seen worldwide in Pink Panther 2.
 

Everywhere you go people are talking about ‘Slumdog Millonaire’. the movie took the Oscar’s by storm clinching 8 Oscar awards including the ‘Best Film of the year’ only weeks later in sunny California Slumdog Millonaire received more awards winning  ‘Best Costumes’ At 11th Annual Guild Awards.
 

But were not here to talk about the movie itself were here to talk about the success after the film of  the leading actress Freida Pinto, star of Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, who recently has made it onto the cover of Vogue, Maxim and Cosmopolitan. The young  actress aged 24 began her career as a model but has never graced the cover of a fashion magazine before when she was modelling. The recent cover of Vogue see’s Freida wearing a metallic mini dress by international renowned designer Louis Vuitton.
 

Just months ago she was a nobody, Freida Pinto is now hot property for magazine covers. The new darling of Hollywood, Freida has also become a much in-demand magazine cover girl both in India and also now Hollywood.
 
The actress will dominate the newsstands across India in March, with men's magazine Maxim opting to put her face and knock-out body on its cover, as will women's magazines Cosmopolitan and Vogue Freida also currently appears on the cover of industry bible Entertainment Weekly alongside her co-star from the underdog drama Dev Patel
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"I used to anchor a travel show in India, which is clearly not acting, and I had done a little bit of modelling. Both of those things helped me with the camera," she said.

The rise to superstardom of India’s very own Freida has been so quick and meteoric, people would believe it’s almost impossible to believe.
Freida was signed by one of India’s leading model agency ‘Elite’ at the tender age of 21, after leaving university. She said recently that she took the job as a route into acting: "Honestly, I remember harbouring dreams of being an actor since I was five years old. For someone like me with no godfather in the film industry, it was easier to break into modelling. I did use modelling as a means to get into the film world. I enjoyed modelling. It taught me a lot in terms of being confident and definitely helped me prepare for what was to come next’
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Freida was just another model in India, hardly even known or famous, she had dreams of becoming the next Ujjwala Raut (India’s first International supermodel mentioned time and time again by many aspiring models from India and also mentioned in my previous blog) Many models in India dream of becoming the next Ujjwala Raut and want to follow in her footsteps,  but who knew that in a short span of time  Freida would be living her dream of becoming the next Ujjwala and become the face of Tinsel Town, Hollywood.

Freida was also profiled by the ‘Los Angeles Times’ in a article which was titled ‘Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto Gazes beyond India’. The article describes how Freida came so far from wearing jeans and t-shirts and from a middle class family in Mumba to International stardom in Holllywood dressed in designer evening gowns walking red carpet events wearing the likes of Roberto Cavalli anD Moschino it also describes her gracing international covers such as Vogue. Freida has also been talked about amongst one of the red carpets high profile fashionistas, being one of the most well groomed and well dressed stars. The American Vogue Magazine even topped Freida amongst the list of the ‘Top 10 best dressed people’.

The 24-year-old has just landed her first post-Slumdog role, cast in Woody Allen's latest film. She will star in the as-yet-untitled project opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin. It will hit cinemas in 2010.She is rumoured to be dating her Slumdog Millionaire co-star, 18-year-old Dev Patel.

Pinto went onto win ‘Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture; she was also nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and at the Black Reel Awards of 2008 she was voted for Best Esemble in the movie.
At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival the movie won the Cadillac People’s choice Award, and at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards the movie won four awards.

The star says she still finds it hard to breath adjusting to her new found fame"It's a blessing and I need to learn to relish and savour each moment, so that's what I'm doing. And, most importantly, I have to breathe!" The baffled look Dev Patel's character Jamal had when he won the money in 'Slumdog Millionaire' is pretty much my expression any time I see an A-lister on the red carpet".

The actress has not even made her debut in Bollywood but has become more famous then any Bollywood actress at present dominating the tabloids, red carpet events, magazine covers, and recieveing more publicity then any other actress from India, just from her debut film she’s been catapulted straight into Hollywood and will soon be amongst the Hollywood A’listers. 
 

Freida has definatley made a big name for herself and has done what few Indian actors have managed to do before her. Yes there have been Bollywood actors who have reached Hollywood in the past including Persis Khambhata, Om Puri, Naseeruddhin Shah etc but none have tasted instant mainstream fame like Freida has. Even former Miss World Aishwarya Rai aged 35 and has just been adjudged as India’s most bankable Bollywood Star in Hollywood had taken her time to journey and venture into Hollywood, unlike Freida who became an overnight Hollywood star.
"Most Indian actresses first concentrate on Bollywood films and then are picked up by Hollywood directors for international projects. So their prime focus has always been Bollywood," said film critic Omar Quereshi.
 

Freida is one of the luckiest Bollywood actresses, having been to the Academy Awards, that too, right at the beginning of her career. Even the Bachchan daughter-in-law, Aishwarya, who is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, hasn't walked the Oscar red carpet yet.
"With Aishwarya the scene was that she got projects since she was Miss World and had also done Bollywood films. That's why Freida's success looks more prominent since she emerged from nowhere and has done a good job," said Quereshi.
 

Among Indian actresses, Shabana starred in Hollywood productions like "Madame Sousatzka" (1988) followed by "City of Joy" (1992), Ayesha was seen in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and "The Mistress of Spices" as well as the television series "Arabian Nights" and the West End and Broadway musical "Bombay Dreams".
 

Aishwarya can boast of four international projects - "Bride & Prejudice", "Mistress Of Spices", "The Last Legion" and "The Pink Panther 2", which has currently hit cinema’s worldwide.
 

While Freida has been hailed by the international media for her performance, Aishwarya has been panned by critics abroad who feel she is wooden in "The Pink Panther 2
 

Freida Pinto has definitely put India and Asians worldwide on the International map and the stars are certainly going to shine even more brighter for India's newest export to the world.
 

Be sure to checkout my next Blog 7 which is an exclusive Interview with the brand new Miss India UK Worldwide 2009 winner Poonam Mehmi who gave her first ever interview to Brit-Asian Magazine.. Until next time folks
 

Love Shinata Sangha

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