Freida Pinto: Pirelli Calendar 2027 Artist

“It's truly one of the most difficult feats to describe a country that has so much to offer, that is so different every mile that you travel. And that is the beauty of India. It has so much to explore, so much to discover. But it is not for the faint-hearted”

Growing up in India, actress Freida Pinto relished the endless diversity of her homeland, describing it as exhilarating in its unpredictability and capacity to surprise. She lived amid the urban bustle of Bombay, now Mumbai, a place she characterises as “too much or too little – so people either love it or hate it”. But her summers were spent on her uncle's rural farm in South India.

“It was just as hot [as Mumbai], but it was open, airy, and had lots of trees and fields. There were rice paddies and bullock carts and my cousins going to draw water from the wells. My sister and I, the two city girls, just wanted to be part of it as well in every possible way. I am actually very proud that my parents gave me an experience that is not one note and I have to remind myself that I have all that within me”

The contrast of city and country made for the kind of “unbeatable” childhood she hopes to replicate for Rumi-Ray, her four-year-old son. It was a wonderfully broad mix of experiences that informs who she is today.

“When I am describing my personality type, I say this country really shaped me because of what comes at you, all the sounds, the beautiful sounds and the loud sounds of the traffic. You just learn to find your own inner focus where things like that distract you momentarily, and then you can just get right back to it. And that is the way we all move in this country”

Indeed, when her post-shoot interview in Rajasthan is disrupted by bees and a pigeon flying on to the set, the actress remains unfazed and continues with her answer. She says she was overjoyed when she was approached to appear in Pirelli's India-focused 2027 Cal.

“It's exhilarating to be working with a team that is so professional, that has been doing beautiful pictures for years, and I think the biggest draw in all of this is India, the fact that Pirelli is choosing India to shoot this Calendar”

The former model says she loved working with renowned Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø and was delighted by the flowers chosen for her shoot: her favourite bougainvillea, which she says also grows at her home in Los Angeles.

“To have that as my companion in the shoot was very special. And Sølve is such an easy photographer to work with. He tells you what to do, but then he just leaves you to your own devices and is very open to collaboration. There was this last shot that we did. I was like, ‘Hey, what if I get my legs up on the wall, would you be okay with that? The [bougainvillea] creepers would look beautiful.’ He said, ‘let's try it.’ So yeah, it's just been effortless”

Pinto shot to international prominence with her debut role in 2008's Slumdog Millionaire as Latika, the street kid described as “the most beautiful girl in the world”. After Slumdog, she worked non-stop on a range of Hollywood projects with directors including Woody Allen, Julian Schnabel and Terrence Malick. More recently she has concentrated on parts that portray strong female characters. Looking back, she says that even as a child she always knew what she wanted to do when she grew up.

“This was exactly what I was going to do. Performance, telling stories, finding the right group of people to come together, like producing – that's one of the things that I think I did even before I started acting. I always loved putting on plays, but my favourite part was assembling and bringing people together. It's that community that you form when you are creating art. So, without a shadow of a doubt, what I'm doing right now is exactly what I wanted to do when I was little”

Meanwhile, she is excited about what the 2027 Cal will communicate about India.

“I hope this Calendar will convey our true diversity. We are one people of one race, but within that race, we have so much colour and flavour and variations and shades, and I'm not just talking about externally, I'm talking about internally as well. Our cultures shift. A main culture could be that of India, but within that, what South India gave me, as opposed to what Bombay gave me, is so different. So, when people see this Calendar, I hope they see how different we are and how we can all still coexist beautifully. I hope they also see a message of coexistence, not just for one country but for the whole world. That we're all the same: human”