Sigh. So Purdy.

How hard is it to break into India’s film industry?
It’s really difficult. You have to have a godfather or parents who can get you in. I got into modeling for the visibility factor, hoping that portals would open up for me to act. I did a lot of print because people found me too skinny in India to do television. We have the voluptuous, full-figured woman thing. People say I need to get a boob job, but I’m just comfortable the way I am.

Is Bollywood as sleazy as Hollywood is?
Three or four years back, I was auditioning for a film and I met this man who was like, “We can be good friends,” with a twinkle in his eye. I knew where that was coming from, and it didn’t feel right.

Would you ever do nudity or a sex scene?
I don’t think I’d have an issue [doing a love scene], but it all depends on the director—what kind of work he’s done in the past. In India, I probably wouldn’t do something like that; it’s kind of taboo. It usually gets cut off at the censorship board level, so what’s the point of having shot it?

What’s the best way for a guy to approach you?
Back in college, if boys did the most stupid thing, like compose a silly song, I’d listen. It could be something really stupid, like a rap for all I care.

Have you ever used your acting abilities to manipulate men?
Hmm… [Laughs.] If you have it, you gotta use it.

[Interview]

You’ve been a model for a while, was acting something you always wanted to do?

Absolutely ever since I was 5, I remember I always wanted to act, maybe then I wasn’t aware that I wanted to make a profession out of it but I was kind of inclined to it. In my 3rd year at degree college which is like when you're around 20, I took a course that was film and literature, I just knew that was it, this is what I wanted to do. So I took it up professionally after that, and then after college I decided I wanted to get into films, but it’s really difficult, because Bollywood is really tight. If you want to get into it, you need to have a mother, father, sister brother, someone to push you in the right direction. So I had gone into modeling hoping I would get that sort of visibility factor, and maybe a ticket, but that didn’t work. I got a travel show instead. I was presenting, at an international travel show, which is all over southeast Asia, and just after the show was coming to an end, I realized my life’s over, I have nothing fun to do anymore but then Slumdog happened. The casting director called various agencies in Bombay saying Danny Boyle is coming down to India to shoot this film and they’re looking for actors. I couldn’t believe it. So I went in for the audition, and six months of auditioning, finally gave me the role.

Her modesty seems genuine. When I tell Pinto that my South Asian friends think she looks like a regular Indian girl (albeit an extremely gorgeous one), rather than a Bollywood star, Pinto nods in agreement. “I think I look like the typical Indian girl,” she says. “There are so many pretty girls back in India. The most beautiful thing is they’re not even aware of it. That is the beauty of their beauty.”


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JAG