‘Love Sonia’ Star Freida Pinto on #Metoo, Working in ‘Bollywood’

Freida Pinto gets chatty about ‘Love Sonia’, why #MeToo movement hasn’t come to India, doing a Hindi movie and more.

Freida Pinto stars in Tabrez Noorani’s international film Love Sonia.

(Photo courtesy: Twitter)

Love Sonia has been in the news for its stellar cast including actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadha, Rajkummar Rao, Anupam Kher and Freida Pinto. The film is a gritty take on the sex-trafficking racket in India. Freida plays Rashmi, one of the women at the brothel. Her association with the film began ten years ago when Tabrez Noorani, the director of Love Sonia who was also the line producer on Slumdog Millionaire gave her the script of the film. “I was so sheltered as a person, in fact most of us are so, reading the script was very disturbing for me.”

The process of filming however was extremely enjoyable. She said that they had a blast shooting with the cast and crew of the film, and that despite the terrible circumstances of her character, they were eventually human and cannot be depressed all the time. The emphasis she says was on bringing out the urgency of the situation but at the same time not completely depressing the audience.

When asked as to why the #MeToo movement hasn’t caught momentum in India, she says it’s because people are too scared to speak as there is no collective voice. Women in the West have a forum to express themselves because there are others who are doing so. Until that changes, one can’t expect Indian women to come out with their stories, she says.

She’s been repeatedly asked when she’d be featuring in a Bollywood film, but Freida is unperturbed by that pressure. “My aim is to just do a good story, it’s that simple. Which is why I’ve done films in Britain, co-productions in France and Israel. If I get a good story from India nothing will stop me from doing it,” she concludes.

Love Sonia releases on the 14 September.

Edit: Veeru Krishan Mohan
Camera: Sanjoy Deb