Freida Pinto isn’t necessarily looking at a Bollywood film, though!
Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 4, 2016)


Your advice to Bollywood actors picking up Hollywood projects now?
What happened to me may not necessarily be someone else’s path and vice versa. In many ways, I call this career ‘fickle’ because you can never put a method or a theory to make it. This is the combination of talent, creativity, hard work and being at the right place at the right time. So I feel there can’t be one formula and everyone has their own approach, their own sensibilities and they should chase it.

You have always worked towards a better world for women. Do you see a progression in Bollywood films with respect to women?
Absolutely! I don’t work in Bollywood actively. Whatever I hear is from you guys and my colleagues. But what I see as an audience and a spectator, I definitely feel there is a resurgence of the strong female character. That did exist actually in Indian cinema for quite some time. There are some iconic female characters and I’m not talking about just a Mother India, because it’s everyone’s favourite example. We had our own Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and others, who have all done very strong female roles. It’s coming back for sure and I enjoy watching films. It does not have to be a female-centric film for a strong female character to be introduced to us. It can be a story of a couple and the female part might still be very strong.

But not many A-listers are willing to be part of such films... Why do you think that’s the case?
It’s unfortunate. Of course, I’ve noticed that.

Do women face similar problems in the West too?
It’s actually pretty similar there, too. There’s a way to put this. In Bollywood, there are a few actors who rule the roost. Those are the few actors you would want to see in those films and they probably have their own films and another 10 films happening at the same time. In Hollywood, you have a wide variety of what you call a star or an actor. Maybe, you would not see Leonardo DiCaprio in a supporting role to Carey Mulligan if she played the lead role. But at the same time, you do have actors of great calibre and when you say it’s not a superstar who’s played the role, I would like to think of it in a different perspective. The actor who played the role opposite Anushka in NH10 (Neil Bhoopalam) was brilliant and was the right person to play the part. That’s when the whole idea of who’s a star and who’s an actor fades in my mind. I just want to see a good performance. I really don’t care if I’m seeing a star.

When are you going to star in a Hindi film?
I guess you’ve asked me this enough number of times by now! (Laughs) I want to produce films here. It’s not necessarily me looking at doing a Bollywood film. I want to do a great film from this subcontinent. And of course because of what I love doing, I want to tell a story of a woman. I am currently looking at two different projects. They are going to be mostly in the local language that they belong to because I am all about authenticity and representing the culture as authentically as possible.

Have you watched Quantico?
I haven’t, actually, because of the time schedules I am at. I don’t even have cable. I watch everything on the Internet. I did watch a bit of the first episode when it was available on the Internet and I am really proud of Priyanka. What Priyanka has done, what she is continuing to do and will continue to do is unprecedented in so many ways. Everyone expects a Bollywood actor in the West to not be in the same lead role that they actually enjoy in Bollywood. She’s actually changed that. It’s very important and heartening to know that can happen.

Would you like to take up such a show?
I am producing and doing so much everywhere, there’s one thing my agents are very clear about. Actually, all the studios who know me and have interacted with me, they know that when I do something on TV, it needs to be in the short format where I can go in and then I am out into my film. So yeah, that’s the kind of shows I would love to be part of.

Any favourite genre?
Gritty dramas! I love watching them. I would do a comedy, but I would rather want to do a film before I do a TV series.