Sunday, February 08, 2009

Freida Pinto - the Girl of the Moment

Freida Pinto, photographed by Micaela Rossato
Source: Vanity Fair

I hadn't seen Slumdog yet by the time the Golden Globes rolled around. So it was with mighty interest and curiosity that I watched the Slumdog table. The table erupted every time Slumdog won an award, the two young actors being the most boisterous of all, understandably. I learnt the names of the new actors, the screenwriter, watched with delight as the familiar faces from oh, so far away mingled with the more ubiquitous familiar faces, and saw a tall, lanky Indian actress look like she belonged on an international stage.

The same youthfulness and charm so evident at the awards ceremony transferred to the guest chairs on the Ellen DeGeneres show, her enthusiasm and apparent disbelief at her current station in life writ large in her body language. Pinto leaned forward eagerly to answer the host's questions, turning every so often to address an indulgent audience. She excitedly recounted her experiences at the awards show, describing her encounter with Angelina Jolie and Clint Eastwood (who, she said, she had been wanting to meet ever since she saw Million Dollar Baby).

Since then she's been on a whirlwind tour of the talk-show circuit and award shows (YouTube puts out more than 350 videos following a search). Nino's Mum traces Pinto's red carpet fashion graph via photographs and sums it up neatly in one sentence - This girl is comfortable in her skin.

Now comes the icing on the cake - Pinto is Vanity Fair's latest Vanities girl and the photograph you see above appears in its latest issue (March 2009). The magazine assesses Pinto's prospects thusly:
[T]he Vanities opener now features an up-and-coming actress in a 50s-style pinup shot. These shapely ingénues are on the cusp of fame or have just hit it big; they have names you need to know and faces you won’t have trouble remembering.
The only question now remaining is this: Will the girl of the moment be the woman for all seasons?

P.S.:
  • Check out the links in Nino's Mum's post and Daily Cherez for more Freida commentary.
  • Vanity Fair's Vanities Girls slideshow appears here.

5 comments:

Nino's Mum said...

thanks for linking me up Suj, just heading to read the Vanities slideshow now.
Perfect timing for your question. Where will she head to once the bubbly's all done?

Anonymous said...

Dang! I was thinking of doing a similar post, especially since she is not quite who Bollywood wanted to see as its "crossover" star, no? (Remember one Ms. Rai?)
But the wait was worth it, with some more gossip juice flowing:
First, she says she wants to move to NYC, so I guess, she shying away from Bollywood.
Second, this controversy about her alleged engagement (link below), which she is denying. I guess the broken engagement is less problematic than her denial :)
Enjoy!!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5a177c95-5b89-44fb-8dc5-47b04821ff1a


IC/SS

Sujatha Bagal said...

Hey S, took a while to figure out who the comment was from! Well, now the rumor is that she is/was married. Whatever. I do hope she has a bright future on the screen.

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