Freida Pinto Filmography

Freida Pinto was born to Catholic parents based in Mangalore. She had a middle class upbringing in Mumbai where she went on to do her schooling from Carmel of St Joseph School in Malad after which she went on to graduate with a major in English literature and minors in Psychology and economics from St. Xavier’s College Mumbai. Incidentally she who had dreamt to be an actress from a very early age, an obsession which she herself remembers to be inspired after watching the English movie Monster and also after The Miss World crowning of Actress Sushmita Sen in 1994, all of this led her to being active in college theatre which subsequently led to her modelling stint in 2005 after her graduation where she worked for the famous “Elite Model Management Agency” in a two year contract which led to her appearance in several TV Ad’s like for popular brands like Skoda, Vodafone India , Airtel, Vista , eBay and many more. She then received her first film offer after through a lengthy audition procedure after rigorous casting call and audition participations in the year 2009 with Danny Boyle’s Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire .

Freida Pinto prior to her to her film entry was engaged to her then publicist Rohan Antao but the relationship came to end in the year 2009. She was then in relationship with her Slum dog Millionaire co-star Dev Patel, which lasted for about six years until the duo broke up in the year 2014.

Sparkling Film Debut ( 2008)

Danny Boyle was the first person to cast her after rigorous casting auditions for his British production Slumdog Millionaire where she played the female lead named “Lathika” opposite Dev Patel in the lead. The film which narrated the story of a slum dweller who lands up answering all questions in a game show , in the course of which he embarks on his life journey which forms the crux of the narrative.Although the movie could not garner much commercial acceptance it went on to be a revelation among the critics and cinephiles and went on to win many Oscars along with screening at many International film festivals.

Ensuing releases (2010-2011)

Comic Legend Woody Allen was the next director in line to cast her in his Spanish –American comedy drama You WillMeet a had her pairing with big names like Antonio Banderas, Josh Bralin, Anthony Hopkins and many others in the lead. The movie had her playing a musician who gets involved while being engaged to another person, however the film emerged only a mediocre outing. Anyhow it elevated her status at the International level and led to her being a constant presence in Foreign movies in the future.

She then went on to star in Julian Schanbel’s semi-biographical political drama flickMiral where she donned the character of an orphaned Palestine woman who grew up in an Israel refugee camp. Hiam Abbas and Yasmine Al Masri were seen sharing screen space with her in this English production. Pinto went on to receive widespread critical acclaim for her highly engrossing and dignified conception of the bumpy psychological nuances of the character but the movie mostly secured mixed to negative reviews at the time of its release in the year 2010.

Freida Pinto then went on to be a part of science fiction reboot film Rise of Planet of Apes , where she played a primatologist who is in a relationship with a scientist who is trying to unearth a medicine on chimpanzees, who eventually starts developing interest for a chimpanzee in the science fiction world brought up by her boyfriend. She was seen pairing appearing along with James Franko, John Lithgow and many more in the lead and was pitch perfect in her performance and the movie turned out to be a crucial for her being a commercial and critical success but some sections of the critics put her under the scanner for being a clichéd one –dimensional tag along heroine used in Hollywood films of the past. Pinto’s second outing for the year was the British-Swedish-Indian joint production title Trishna, which saw her pairing with various actors like Riz Ahmed , Roshan Seth with big names like Anurag Kashyap, Amit Trivedi and Kalki Koaechlin also in the lead cast playing themselves. The movie saw her coming up with a stellar act by pulling off a confident act playing a girl from Rajasthan whose life aspirations are questioned by her love life complications and sociocultural environment. She then played Princess Lailah in the poorly performing movie Day Of the Falcon and she ended her 2011 with the American fantasy action movie Immortals along with Henry Cavill and Mickey Rourke in the lead. The film went on to achieve a good commercial run with mostly mixed reviews.

Return after three year sabbatical (2014)

After trying her luck at music videos and a documentary during a two year hiatus from cinema, Freida Pinto then came back in the year 2014 with the British biographical drama film Desert Dancer opposite Reece Ritchie. The movie saw her playing a girl subject to substance abuse who falls in love with an ambitious dancer and the movie saw her brining something new to the table and had her going through rigorous dance training sessions only garnered negative reviews.

Recent Films ( 2015)

Freida Pinto was then called upon by highly revered filmmaker Terrence Mallick for his experimental drama film Knight of Cups starring Christian Bale in the lead along with an ensemble supporting cast which dealt with themes of reinvention of one own selves through a film screenwriter who tries to find a remedy for his inner demons and pain through a symbolized journey through eight chapters as in a tarot card. The movie saw her playing a serene model that comes across the protagonist in the eight chapter. The film was a critic’s favourite as all of the directors other works and catapulted Pinto’s stature to new heights. After serving as a one among many narrators for the documentary film Unity the same year , she went on to play the lead in the Colombian English language action film Blunt Force Trauma co-starring with Mickey Rourke and Ryan Kwanten.

Freida Pinto’s upcoming film is the British American live action adventure fantasy Jungle Book which is slated to release in 2018.

Awards

Freida Pinto has received the following Awards and Nominations in her career for her debut movie Slumdog Millionaire in the year 2009 as in :

Best Supporting Actress at BAFTA Awards

Best Ensemble at Black Reel Awards

Best Breakthrough Performance at MTV Awards

Best Breakthrough Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Other works

Freida Pinto during her sole three year sabbatical from cinema acted in a musical video titled “Gorilla” sung by American recording artist Bruno Mars. Likewise in the same period she also served as a narrator for the indie documentary film “Girl Rising“narrating the story of nine girls from nine countries, aimed at the campaign for promotion of women empowerment. Freida Pinto is involved in various humanitarian activities and is also popular for her public stand on gender equality and women empowerment.

Milestones

Frieda Pinto is one of the most sought after Indian actresses at the International level these days and is arguably a global star from India. She is one of the few Indian actresses to be served the good fate of having the lion share of her releases in foreign language films especially being busy in Hollywood. Freida Pinto also holds the commendable feat of bringing about a change in the way Indian women were brought to screen with her varying and highly versatile role selection. Freida Pinto also holds the record for being the highest paid Indian actress, which in itself is a great accomplishment other than being a cultural icon of India at the global level. Freida Pinto is also the only Indian actress to have worked with Hollywood giants like Terrence Mallick, Danny Boyle and pairing with Stalwart’s like Christian Bale, James Franco , Anthony Hopkins and many more in an eight year long filmography.