Spotlight on actress Freida Pinto
With a new love in her life, the busy actress has two movies and a TV series out this year
MOWGLI MANIA The Mumbai-born beauty says she couldn’t wait to join the cast of the latest adaptation of The Jungle Book, based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel about a boy raised by wolves in the jungles of India.
“When I heard Andy Serkis – I did Rise of the Planet of the Apes with him – was directing Mowgli, I didn’t care if I was there for a second, I just wanted to be a part of this film. The Jungle Book is a story I grew up with.”
The 34-year-old plays Messua, Mowgli’s adoptive mother. “I get to play my part in Hindi in a big Hollywood film.” QUARTERLIFE CRISIS Freida became a household name after starring in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire alongside Dev Patel, whom she went on to date in real life.
In an interview last year she said their split in 2014 happened after reflection and a journey of self-love.
“There comes a point where you’ve got everything you want – career, love, family – but you’ve ignored yourself. The seven years I was with Dev were so impactful. But I ended up being single when I started thinking about these other things.” She says they’re still great friends, however.
“You can’t share such a monumental shift in life then not be friends. That would be the saddest thing ever.”
These days she’s dating adventure photographer Cory Tran (32), and the two were spotted snuggling up to each other at the US Open tennis tournament in New York last month. ABOUT ACTING The actress says India will always be home and she visits her parents in Mumbai often. “But after nine years LA is home too, and I feel as much a part of American culture. I’m enjoying the best of both worlds.”
The projects she takes on also straddle both worlds. She plays a sex worker in the upcoming Indian film Love Sonia, based on the true story of a girl’s journey to rescue her sister from sex traffickers. “We’ve seen many films on trafficking, but I feel this is the most genuine of them all,” she says.
She’s also branched into TV, most recently appearing opposite Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul in The Path, a series about a New-Age family.
Prior to that she teamed up with Idris Elba in the political drama series Guerilla. “Idris is fearless. I want to work with fearless people,” she says.