Desert Dancer is a superb film, based on the true story of Afshin Ghaffarian who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a dancing ban in his country, Iran. Remo Dsouza should seriously think of remaking this one as ABCD 3 and maybe base it in Pakistan. The plot is very interesting and director Richard Raymond has done justice to it. The turmoil in Iran comes out very well and the dance sequences are beautifully shot. The climax is damn good and the movie ends on a great note. Reece Ritchie plays Afshin and he is an actor to watch out for. Freida Pinto plays his dancing colleague and lover Elaheh and she has a terrific screen presence. A beautiful actress and a fine performer! Tom Cullen and Akin Gazi are nice in their supporting roles. Just 862 people have voted this film on IMDb. Surely, this film deserves to be seen by many more people. Do give it a try and spread the word!

My rating - **** out of 5!

DNA (January 28, 2015)


How close are the two actresses — separated by an age gap of several years — really? Consider this, when shown a slide of her and Fonda, Freida casually remarked, “That’s actually a nice picture of us, she’s grabbing my ass in that picture.. on the red carpet... at Cannes!”

When the hosts asked her what kind of advice, she got from Jane, the Indian actress narrated an incident wherein she saw the older actress in pain and asked her if she wanted her publicist. “You girls are so spoiled”, Fonda told her. Wondering what she had said to upset her, Frieda got her reply soon enough when Jane told her, “Back in our day, we had to get our own dresses to walk down the red carpet at the Oscar’s or other award ceremonies. we did not have people carrying our bags, helping us around and babysitting us. I will take care of myself.

Freida says she believes that it is important for every young actress to be as grounded and down-to-earth. “I just realised, ‘She’s right! We don’t need all of this. Security, publicists or whatever’. Because you’re pretty capable of doing it yourself.”

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 21, 2014)

Over 125 million girls and women, across 29 countries, have suffered the ill effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). And according to UNICEF figures, one out of every three women between the age of 20 and 24 was married before they turned 18, and 23 million girls, i.e. 11 per cent of the world population, wed before they were 15.

To bring an end to these age-old evils, the first Girl Summit, in partnership with the UNICEF, is being hosted in the UK. Among those making their presence are UK's Home Minister, Theresa May, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and actor-activist Freida Pinto. Tomorrow, Freida will deliver the closing speech, along with UK's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

Speaking about the cause, Freida says, "Girls and women have the right to live free from violence and discrimination and achieve their potential, but some of them are being prevented from doing so by these harmful practices which are illegal in the UK."

Horrified that the practices continue in India too, the actress has decided to raise her voice against the violation of human rights. "At the summit, I will discuss how ending child marriage and FGM can preserve a girl's childhood, promote her education, and reduce her exposure to violence and abuse, allowing her to make choices about her future and fulfil her potential," she says.

Earlier, Frieda was part of the 2013 feature, Girl Rising directed by Academy Award nominee Richard E Robbins. The story of nine girls from nine countries, it had narrations by Anne Hataway, Cate Blanchett, Priyanka Chopra,Chloe Grace Moretz, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington. Frieda gave the 'Call for Action', reaching out to the people to build a movement.

On the professional front, she has wrapped up two films, Terrence Malick's Knight Of Cups, an American drama co-starring Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett, and Richard Raymond's biopic, Desert Dancer on Afshin Ghaffarian who risked his life to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban in Iran.

The films could open towards the year-end or early 2015. Before that, Freida will start another film in the last quarter of 2014. "It's a bio-pic which she will not only act in but also co-produce it," says a source.