Freida Pinto tops Indian pay league

Friday, March 27: The real life rags-to-riches story of actress Freida Pinto (pictured) continues to unfold: she has just been unveiled as India’s highest paid actress. The 24-year-old, who was an unknown model before appearing as Latika in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning smash hit Slumdog Millionaire, is now able to command more money per film than such Bollywood stars as Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.

She even beats Bollywood's Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, often described as the most beautiful woman in the world (an accolade not given to all Miss Worlds), who recently crossed the divide to star in a major western film, Pink Panther 2, opposite Steve Martin – sadly, a big mistake if you believe the critics ("tedious" and "just not funny" were two of the kinder remarks).

According to film industry sources, Pinto's earnings have topped £2m. And she's achieved this by choosing more serious fare than Aishwarya, with both Woody Allen and Julian Schnabel casting her in their new films.

Allen's is as yet untitled but will have Pinto appearing alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins and Josh Brolin. Schnabel, who enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim for his 2007 film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, has cast her in his new movie Miral, based on a novel by Palestinian-Italian writer Rula Jebreal, which starts shooting next month in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The project tells the story of an orphanage founded in Jerusalem by the philanthropist Hind Husseini in the wake of the 1948 partition of Palestine.

These roles have helped Pinto "join a league no other Indian actress has achieved so far", a film analyst told the Daily Telegraph.

If the bookies have it right, Pinto could become even more of a household name. She is currently tipped to become a Bond girl with Paddy Power offering odds of 3/1, just ahead of former Friends star Jennifer Aniston. Both actresses, incidentally, appear in a new top five of Hollywood’s sexiest women - Aniston at number one, Pinto at number four.

FIRST POSTED MARCH 27, 2009