Page 64 - 15MAR2020E

• ‘We’re jeered for
so many languages’
Freida Pinto feels there was a time when
the world ridiculed Indians for speaking
so many languages and celebrating so
many festivals. The actress says the
world needs to imbibe the ethos of
Indian culture in this “dark time”.
The actress is excited about her
new animated show Mira, Royal
Detective, weaved around with the
Indian culture and traditions. She
feels people will be amazed to look at the
myriad colours and diversity of India. “I
think the first thing is that the world is going to
be absolutely enthralled by the fact that there
are so many languages and festivals that we
celebrate,” Freida said in an interview. “We,
in the past, have been ridiculed for speaking
so many languages and celebrating so many
festivals. Now, they are going to see the beauty
of these and then realise what they are missing
on. They will want to celebrate a few of them
here in America and I think they rightfully
should, similar to celebrating Christmas, Easter
or any other festival,” she added. Freida has
carved out a niche of her own in world cinema
through her roles in films like Miral, Day Of The
Falcon, Immortals, Desert Dancer and Rise Of The
Planet Of The Apes. Freida was also seen with
Christian Bale in Terrence Malick’s film Knight
Of Cups, which brought to light Hollywood’s
underbelly.
• ‘UK lacKs diversity in showbiz’
Oprah may never have made it in the UK, says Jameela Jamil
English actress-model-television person-
ality Jameela Jamil feels chat show em-
press Oprah Winfrey would have “never
made it” if she gave the calling a shot in
the United Kingdom, because of the lack
of diversity in the country’s showbiz
scene. Jamil, 34, said this was also the
reason she herself shifted to the United
states, in order to pursue a career in TV.
“We’re still behind in giving women
important jobs that lead to long standing,
dignified careers, the rest of us either get
pushed out or get pushed into being noth-
• Shifting base Jameela judges UK ing more than sex objects,” Jamil said.
64
• Shabana Azmi hails
LGBTQ discourse
Veteran actor Shabana Azmi
is glad that the discourse
around the LGBTQ com-
munity is a lot more open
today, with even mainstream
cinema portraying them with
compassion. Azmi starred
in filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s
acclaimed Fire (1996), about
a lonely woman in love with
her sister-in-law, played by
Nandita Das. The actor re-
calls how the trio were asked
if they were lesbians at the
London Film Festival because
they had done Fire. “Today,
it’s fine. I must give credit
to the mainstream industry
that instead of making them
a subject of ridicule, they are
watching them with empa-
thy,” she says. The actor says
she was aware during “Fire”
that some would be “out-
raged, moved and shocked”,
but at least a dialogue would
start in a society, which was
so afraid of the “other” that it
hated them.
I want to
compete
wIth myself’
bhumi Pednekar
(in an interview)