Freida Pinto at the Trishna premiere.
Trishna opens tomorrow! Freida Pinto talks Trishna below, courtesy of Gitesh Pandya, boxofficeguru.com.
Q: Take us through the process of how you became involved in the project. What attracted you to it and to the role of Trishna?
Freida Pinto: When I was told that Michael Winterbottom would like to meet me to discuss his new film project, I obviously jumped on the opportunity. He is one of those rare directors who makes films by boldly attempting and embracing any given genre. I was already familiar with Thomas Hardy’s 19th century novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles and the idea of having it set in contemporary India was absolutely brilliant and apt. I was pining to sink my teeth into a hardcore independent project and Trishna came along.
Now that Downton Abbey is done, I’m in some serious need of a good ol’ fashioned love story. I’ve been looking forward to Freida Pinto‘s next film, Trishna, due out next Friday, but now I, along with you, our Audrey readers, can watch the movie for FREE and talk to Freida Pinto herself about the film!
Our former cover girl Freida Pinto returns to India in her latest film, Trishna, which is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC in July and will be released to US theaters on July 13. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and also co-stars Riz Ahmed, Roshan Seth, and Anurag Kashyap.
Synopsis:
Based on Thomas Hardy’s classic novel, Tess of the D’Ubervilles, master filmmaker Michael Winterbottom’s newest film stars Freida Pinto who soars as Trishna in her most revealing performance yet. Trishna lives with her family in a village in Rajasthan, India’s largest state. As the eldest daughter, she works in a nearby resort to help pay the bills. Jay (Riz Ahmed, FOUR LIONS) is the wealthy son of a property developer. When he takes up managing a resort at his father’s request, he meets Trishna at a dance and their fates cross. Jay finds every opportunity to win Trishna’s affection and she accepts his efforts with shy curiosity. But when the two move to Mumbai and become a couple, Jay’s deep family bond threatens the young lovers’ bliss. Shot with Winterbottom’s agile camera, TRISHNA is a powerful look at the tension between ancient privilege and modern equality, between codes of urban and rural life and ultimately a hymn to both the glory and the tragedy that comes with beauty in all forms. (From IFC FIlms)
Check out the trailer below!
Freida Pinto discusses her new movie, The Immortals.
ISSUE: Fall 2011
DEPT: Plugged In
HED: Freida Pinto
STORY: Jimmy Lee
How about starting a new job by getting into bed with Superman? That was Freida Pinto’s predicament, when she began work on the new film Immortals: one of the first scenes shot was a love-making sequence with the soon-to-be Man of Steel, Henry Cavill.
“How can you feel bad for Henry?” said Tarsem Singh, the director of the highly stylized, eye-popping 3D epic, to a screaming crowd at last July’s Comic-Con. Truly, being in Pinto’s presence is a divine experience — especially fitting for a movie with a mythological backdrop. There is, of course, the beauty. But she also handles herself with grace and cunning, complimenting her co-stars while slyly addressing the criticisms coming from India about only making movies in the West.
“What’s amazing about the way my career’s been shaped is that there’s been an immense amount of growth,” said Pinto in July. “When people ask me, ‘Was it amazing working with all these handsome men?’ It is, certainly, and they’re also super-talented. Just sharing screen space with Stephen Dorff; having Mickey Rourke in your film. It’s just amazing to have that experience. It’s just really fast growth, which I wouldn’t have had if I was just sitting in [Mumbai].”
Granted, a swords-and-sandals action flick with Greek gods using Mt. Olympus- enhanced kung fu skills might not be the type of film you’d expect to see her in, but Pinto relished it. “It just gets boring if you stick to just one genre, just one kind of film-making,” said Pinto, who plays Phaedra, an oracle helping Cavill stop a power-mad Rourke from damning mankind. “You want to be challenged. And that’s the whole fun and joy of being an actor: to do everything that’s different.”
And being surrounded by male eye candy wasn’t so bad, either. “It’s very rare that you get to be part of a film where men have to bare it all and the women stay covered,” added Pinto. “It’s a damn good treat for me!”
Details In theaters November 11.
— Jimmy Lee
More stories from Audrey Magazine’s Archives here.
There’s something that draws me into films where the lead actress is not your typical cookie-cutter blonde, or blue-eyed bombshell — not that I have anything against the Cameron Diaz types. However, multi-ethnic actress display an on-screen mystery and feminine charm that is hard for me to ignore.
One actress hard for me to ignore: Frieda Pinto. Following her successful break in Slumdog Millionaire in 2008, she has been blooming ever since, easily becoming the biggest Indian actress in Hollywood today. This November, Pinto will play lead female role in Immortals, set to be released in theatres everywhere on 11-11-11.
Pinto plays the role of the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra, who aids the fearless hero Theseus (Henry Cavill) in stopping the brutal King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) in his quest to conquer both mortals and Gods.
Directed by Indian director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall), Immortals aims to transport audiences in this epic tale of treachery, vengeance and destiny through a stylish and visually spectacular 3D action adventure.
Immortal Trailer
Audrey contributor Mira Advani Honeycutt gets us a backstage pass into the parties at the Toronto Film Festival. Here, her report.
At the Sony Pictures Classics party: Jessica Chastain, Restless screenwriter Jason Lew and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Toronto, Canada: The film festival is in full swing with over 300 films, international stars and parties. And the red carpet is sizzling with such stellar names as Angelina Jolie, Keira Knightly, Freida Pinto, Megan Fox, Ryan Gosling, Kristen Dunst, Francis Ford Coppola and the band U2. But it was the arrival of George Clooney and Brad Pitt that made the star-wattage meter go through the roof. While Pitt is here with the Moneyball, Clooney is celebrating two films at the fest, as the director of The Ides of March and starring in Alexander Payne’s The Descendents.
And where there are stars there are parties — staged in downtown lofts and warehouses transformed into stylish pop-lounges and upscale hotels like the Thompson and Ritz Carlton.
Check out the latest trailer for Immortals, a Greek epic starring Indian actress Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) — she’s featured in our Fall 2011 issue, out now and available here. Directed by famed Indian director Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall), this 3-D film follows Theseus (played by Henry Cavill), a heroic young villager who rises up against a power-hungry determined to destroy all of ancient Greece in search of a mythical weapon. Pinto plays Phaedra, a priestess who helps Theseus stand up against the king, played by Mickey Rourke. It’s set to release on November 11.
Slumdog Millionaire‘s Freida Pinto stars in Rise of the Planet of the Apes alongside James Franco, which opened today in theaters.
If you want to see more of Freida, check out our Shop to purchase our cover of her!
Summertime usually calls for concerts and festivals, not to mention some serious couch potato time. This coming week you can splurge on a night out complete with cocktails and dinner, take a family day to a local festival, be a history buff, or just take it easy and pop in a new movie starring a Slumdog Millionaire actress.
One Night, One Stage, One World
When: Saturday, July 9, 8 pm
Where: Grand Performances at California Plaza, 350 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
How: It’s $200 per person, but hey, it’s for a good cause! Purchase tickets here.
After a night of cocktails and a catered dinner, enjoy a musical journey around the world tonight. Check out Kinnara Taiko’s choreography when you make a pitstop in Japan, then head over Africa with MC Rai‘s potent North African musical cocktail.
It’s also a celebration of Grand Performances’ 25 years of offering free access to the performing arts.
Summer is underway and that could only mean many things for movie-lovers: popping some popcorn, sipping on soda and watching the newest films on the theater screens with free air condition. You have to get your cool air somehow, somewhere when the thermostat hits over 90 degrees so why not spend it by checking out new releases. What’s so great about this summer is we will be seeing more and more Asian American faces-whether it be in giant blockbusters or starring in small indies.
