Freida Pinto overtakes Indian actresses to be the real millionaire queen of Bollywood

The Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto overtakes Indian actresses to be the real millionaire queen of Bollywood, a report by Dean Nelson for the Telegraph says. Pinto shot into fame with her debut performance in the Oscar-winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire.

Freida Pinto, who performed the role of Latika, the girl for whose love the young slum-dweller of Mumbai, Jamal (British actor Dev Patel) risks his life and appears on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, is now the highest paid actress in India.

Pinto was relatively unknown in India and unheard of in Hollywood, until the release of Slumdog Millionaire. Since the film bagged eight Oscars, she has landed a series of lucrative roles in films of a number of top directors, including Woody Allen and American filmmaker Julian Schnabel in his film, “Miral”.

Sources close to Freida Pinto revealed that she has now overtaken top Bollywood actresses such as Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, who recently starred with Steve Martin in “Pink Panther 2”. But Pinto’s earnings have now topped £2 million, they said.

"Freida can't be compared to Aishwarya, because we're not pitching her as an Indian girl in international films. Freida is a true global face," said Anirban Das, CEO of her management company.

"Freida is fast reaching top status in the international arena. The actress's projects with big film makers like Woody Allen have helped her join a league which no other Indian actress has achieved so far," said another film analyst.

Even otherwise, Freida Pinto is on cloud nine, having walked international ramps for top fashion designers, and appearing on the covers of some of the top international magazines in a very short time span, a feat that no other Indian model or actress achieve in such a short time span.

As an extra icing on the cake, she appeared in the Vanity Fair list of the “World’s Most Beautiful Women” recently, and in the just now released “FHM 100 Sexiest Women 2009”, in which she is in the top 10.