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New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) Well-known Bollywood playback singer Sukhwinder Singh is set to enthrall the American audiences with his concert “Jai Ho” in Washington June 5.

The signer, who crooned Oscar winning number “Jai Ho” in “Slumdog Millionaire”, will perform live with an ensemble of leading Bollywood musicians at the DAR Constitution Hall.

“He is bigger than the limits that are put on him. It all has to do with the individual journey of this great international singer and music director,” organiser Puneet Ahluwalia said in a statement.

The singer, who earned fame after the success of “Chaiyya Chaiyya” in “Dil Se”, has given hits like “Chak De India”, “Dard-e-disco”, “Beedi”, “Jalwa”, “Aaj mera jee kardaa”, “Ramta Jogi” and “Dhan te Nan”.

The Centre for Social Change, Kingfisher, Hilton Hotels, TV Asia and Zee TV are some of the sponsors of the concert.

The organisers are also promoting a new reality talent show “Your Minutes of Fame”, where individuals of the South Asian Diaspora will get a chance to showcase their talent in injuggling, magic tricks, stand-up comedy and beat boxing besides singing and dancing.

The winner will be given an opportunity to perform at the concert.

Nikkitasha Marwaha, Miss India Worldwide 2009 and participant in the second season of the dance reality show “Dance India Dance”, will host the show.

Mumbai, May 14 (IANS) Musician A.R. Rahman, lyricist Gulzar and sound designer Resul Pookutty are the trinity — the Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh — of Indian Cinema, said Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan.

The governor was speaking at the launch of the Malayalam autobiography of the Oscar-winning sound designer, ‘Shabdatharapadham’, late Thursday evening. He presented the first copy of the book to Rahman.

Congratulating all three for their contribution to the Indian film industry, Sankaranarayanan credited them for the success of Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”.

“Resul’s work as a sound designer, production mixer, editor and post-production re-recording mixer, has brought international acclaim to Indian cinema,” the governor said.

Lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar and musical maestro Rahman also congratulated Pookutty for coming up with the autobiography in a short time.

‘Shabdatharapadham’ has been co-authored by Baiju Natarajan.

The autobiography has been published by Penguin Books India and supported by the Malayala Manorama publications.

Executive Editor of Malayala Manorama Jacob Mathew, Chairman of the Leela Group Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, Resident Editor of Penguin Books Dileep Raj, cricketer S. Sreesanth and other eminent personalities were present on the occasion.

Mumbai, May 14 (ANI): An autobiography of Oscar winning Bollywood sound designer Resul Pookutty was released here on Thursday.

Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan launched the book with music maestro A. R. Rehman and acclaimed Bollywood lyricist Gulzar receiving the first copy of the book.

Written in Malyalam, ‘Shabdatharampadam’ (Way of Sound Track), is an oral narrative which is an interesting mix of music, technology, philosophy and humour.

The book is a travelogue of an ordinary person who confronts extraordinary situations.

Talking to mediapersons, Pookutty said that he wrote the book as he had a lot to say.

‘I don’t think age has anything to do with stories that you want to tell, and as long as the story touches you, as long as it can touch people’s mind, it should be told. You can call it an autobiography or a biography, a short story or a novel, whatever it is. I think I had something to say and I put it down and it ran into pages; that’s because I had a lot to say,’ he added.

He said though he is not sure whether to take up writing as a profession, but he would surely write in future if he feels something needs to be told.

‘I do not know if I am going to continue writing as a profession but obviously if there are things that touches my heart and needs to be told, I will write again,’ he added.

Pookutty won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. He has worked for Hollywood, Bollywood and Malayalam film industries. (ANI)

New Delhi, May 13 (IANS) Sushma Puri, perhaps the first in India to introduce the concept of a modelling agency, says there has been a seachange in the mindset of parents who are now more open to the idea of their daughters becoming models. But she also feels men don’t get a good deal in the industry.

“Today, we have parents visiting us with their 16-year-old girl to make her a model. Parents from the smaller cities are also encouraging their daughters to take up this profession. The reason for this change is their mindset,” Puri, director and CEO of Elite Model Management India (EMMI), told IANS in an interview.

Puri, who was the first to bring the concept of a modelling agency to India when she decided to start EMMI in 2003, says parents believe being in a female-dominated territory saves them from any kind of harassment.

“Today we all know that the fashion industry is a female-dominated profession; hence all the inhibitions regarding modelling have changed and parents are very much open about it. They feel it is the safest profession for their girls,” she said.

Her agency has churned out celebrities like Kangana Ranaut, “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto and Miss Indias like Neha Kapur, Ekta Chaudhary and Manasvi Mamgai.

Recollecting what a daunting task it was, Puri said: “That time modelling was looked down upon as a profession. So convincing clients and coordinators took a lot of time. We wanted to bring transparency in the profession which was missing earlier.”

Today EMMI has offices in Delhi and Mumbai with around 30 people working on the models. Puri also mentions they have only female workers in the office and it is a policy decision.

“Well, the time we started, fashion wasn’t considered a great profession; so we decided that we will hire only girls to prove a point that girls alone can take a business like this to a higher level if they have perfection,” explained Puri.

“So now when things have changed, we are planning to stick to the decision,” she added.

So how does EMMI work?

“See, we do various model scouting activities from where we choose faces that have the potential to be a model. Also, there are times when we see a good face in a pub or a cafe, we approach them, ask them if they are interested in modelling and take them on board with us,” said Puri.

Explaining further, Puri added each new girl is then assigned to a booker, a girl who takes care of her career graph and grooming.

“Every new face who is with us has to sign a three-year contract. For a year we train them and then for next two years, we try to get them good assignments and movies,” said Puri.

“A booker takes care of 10 girls at a time and she is solely responsible for shaping the career of that model,” she added.

While the big names that the agency has launched are predominately women, Puri confesses that male models are given a raw deal in the industry.

“We sign up very few male models. The fact is that there is not much work available and also in terms of money – they get a raw deal,” explained Puri.

(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at shilpa.r@ians.in)

Mumbai, May 10 (IANS) Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty is all set to release his autobiography Thursday, while music maestro Rahman will launch his life account later this year.

“Both Rahman and I were asked to write our autobiographies after the Oscars. The Malayalam version of my autobiography entitled ‘Sabdatharapadham’ (meaning, the sound of the milky way) is being released on May 13 in Mumbai. The English version will be released a little later,” Pookutty told IANS.

Rahman and lyricist Gulzar will be at the launch event of Pookuttys’ autobiography. The book will be released by Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan. But Pookutty’s favourite Amitabh Bachchan won’t be there. “But Amitji will be releasing the English version of my book,” he said.

In Tamil and English, Rahman’s self-revelations, to be published by Penguin, will appear later this year after he finishes his current world tour and gets the time to put the finishing touches to his startling tale, so far.

The autobiography was apparently commissioned by Penguin right after the Oscar triumph. Both Rahman and Pookutty, who won Oscars for their work in “Slumdog Millionaire”, were asked to put together their life stories, so far.

While Pookutty acted swiftly making time in the midst of his various projects to pen down his tale, Rahman, over-committed and unable to cope with his schedules, is somewhat behind schedule with his autobiography.

Puducherry, May 9 (IANS) Oscar-award winning director Ang Lee has teamed up with the “Slumdog Millionaire” crew to scout for locations for the big screen adaptation of Booker prize-winning novel “The Life of Pi”, which is set in Puducherry.

“He (Lee) has been here for a couple of days and he even visited the place a year ago. He was here with the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ crew – the line producers and others to do the logistics, scout for locations and other local work,” a source from the tourism department, Puducherry, told IANS.

“We are not sure whether he (Lee) has left but he is definitely leaving today (Sunday)… He is not really talking to the press,” the source added.

Lee’s film is based on Canadian author Yann Martel’s novel of the same name. Set in Puducherry, the story is about a well-to-do zoo keeper’s son, Piscine Molitor Patel, known as Pi, who is inclined to religious texts and literature and curious to know about the world.

The political changes in India force Patel and his family to move to Canada where Pi finds himself adrift in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The rest of the story chronicles Pi’s 227-day voyage across the Pacific and the powerful story of faith and survival.

The book covers almost all major locations in the union territory like the Botanical Garden, Mosque, Church, India Coffee House and Beach Road, among others.

“The shooting (for the movie) begins sometime next year, probably in January or February,” said the source.

After Puducherry, Lee is supposed to head to Taiwan and Thailand for location hunting.

Having made films like “Sense and Sensibility”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hulk” and “Brokeback Mountain”, Lee’s last outing was critically-acclaimed comedy-drama “Taking Woodstock”.

Reportedly Puducherry-born Holywood director M. Night Shyamalan was very keen to adapt Martel’s novel.

“Even before the novel won the Booker prize, we were trying to use it as a marketing tool for Puducherry as half of the book is set here. We were also hoping Shyamalan will make a film on the book as he hails from here. But it came as a surprise to us that it’s being done by someone else (Lee) now,” said the source.

London, May 5 (IANS) Drink lots of water and eat fruits and vegetables to have a glowing skin, says “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto who says she is not fond of cosmetics.

“I always wash my face before bed. I can’t sleep with make-up on, even just a little bit. I like my skin clean. I wear sunscreen every day, that’s my cardinal rule,” contactmusic.com quoted Freida, 25, as saying.

“I don’t have too many beauty tips because I am not fond of wearing too much make-up but the first would be to drink a lot of water because water really cleanses your system and it keeps you fresh and your eyes looking fresh. I also recommend adding a lot of fruit and vegetables to your diet and not making it too meat centric,” she said.

New York, May 4 (IANS) The prestigious Film Society of Lincoln Centre in New York is presenting a new film series focusing on Indian cinema May 19-27 highlighting classic films showcasing Muslim themes, performance idioms and lyric traditions.

Called “Social Dramas and Shimmering Spectacles: Muslim Cultures of Bombay Cinema”, the first film series of its kind in New York will feature “Jodhaa Akbar” on the opening night along with more than a dozen other films like “Mughal-e-Azam”, “Pakeezah”, and “Umrao Jaan”.

Presented in collaboration with Indo-American Arts Council and the Indian consulate, the series curated by Richard Allen and Ira Bhaskar, displays the extraordinary richness of Bombay cinema.

Spanning films from the 1930s to the present, the series features historical spectacles that celebrate the justice and tolerance of the Mughal imperium as an antidote to colonial rule. The new series follows one on Satyajit Ray last spring.

Presented are films of aching beauty that focus upon the figure of the courtesan, at once alluring, romantic and tragic and stories of Muslim social life that dramatise the changing social roles of a society in transition.

Film-makers tentatively scheduled to appear include Ashutosh Gowariker, director of the hugely successful historical epic, “Jodhaa Akbar” starring Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, and Khalid Mohamed, director of “Fiza” and writer of Mammo.

“These rich and vibrant films from Bombay are a captivating addition to the many world cinemas we present at the Film Society,” says Mara Manus, executive director of the film society.

“Post Slumdog, there is a new awareness that a great cinema exists in India beyond the work of a few art-house auteurs,” says Allen, Professor and Chair of Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

“This beautifully curated series offers a fresh and fascinating perspective into that treasure chest that is the Bombay cinema,” says Richard Peña, programme director.

“Exploring the many ways that cinema has depicted India’s Muslim minority, Richard Allen and Ira Bhaskar add to and deepen a discussion that has relevance not only for India but for America as well.”

The films “celebrate the richness of aesthetic and narrational forms that while being distinctively Indian are also universal,” says Bhaskar, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto, who was supposed to be part of the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival, will not be attending the event owing to shooting commitments.

The actress was expected to walk the red carpet with the stars of “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” directed by Woody Allen.

“This is to confirm that Freida Pinto unfortunately will not be attending the Cannes film festival as she is shooting for ‘Immortals’ in Canada. Her film ‘You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger’ directed by Woody Allen will be premiering at Cannes,” said a statement from her spokesperson.

“Immortals” directed by Tarsem Singh is slated to release in 2011. The Cannes Film Festival opens May 12.

Mumbai, April 25 (IANS) Veteran lyricist Gulzar is almost 20 years older to filmmaker Mani Ratnam but he still likes to refer to him as ‘Mani sir’ as most others in the industry call him.

“I feel saying Mani is incomplete. It doesn’t sound complete to me at all. So I call him Mani sir. Everybody from the cast and crew call him that so even I have started calling him so,” Gulzar, 73, told reporters at the music launch of their upcoming project “Raavan”.

The National award-winning lyricist has teamed up with music maestro A.R. Rahman yet again after their success in Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.

But Gulzar is happiest about working with Ratnam, who has earlier made films like “Roja”, “Bombay”, “Dil Se” and “Guru”.

“It is wonderful working with this magician called Mani Ratnam. I have always enjoyed working with him and I hope to continue working with him,” he said.

He even recited a stanza from the song “Ruth beet gayi” from “Raavan”. Later Rahman performed the song live, leaving the audience asking for more.

The songs of the movie are catchy and have immense recall value. They are powerful, yet soothing and highly addictive.

The music launch of the movie, being co-produced by Reliance BIG Pictures, saw lead actors Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, southern superstar Vikram, Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan, singer Ila Arun and others in a celebratory mood.

The movie will hit the screens June 18.

New York, April 20 (IANS) Music maestro A.R. Rahman will launch his world tour June 11 with a show at the Nassau Coliseum here, followed by concerts across the US, Canada, France, Zurich, Holland, and Britain.

In the US, the 45-day world tour titled “AR Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour” will take him to New Jersey, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Raleigh and Atlanta, according to the organisers.

Deepak Gattani of Rapport Productions with Amy Tinkham as creative director has produced the concert that promises to be a theatrical experience blending new technology with powerful dance arrangements and acrobatics.

“It will be a blend of the East and West, from Bharatnatyam to pop and tap dance,” said Tinkham.

“The concert will break all barriers with a spectacular show of music and songs from the great music maestro who has won the prestigious Oscar, Grammy awards and numerous other world awards in the field of music,” she added.

“The concert will keep intact the heritage and tradition of India with a new modern presentation. The show will feature changing sets, large images on LED screens and a spectacular cast of musicians and dancers from across the globe,” Tinkham said.

The concert will span throughout Rahman’s career, right from its inception with “Roja” to the latest hit “Slumdog Millionaire” which brought him the Oscar. Besides these, there will be songs from “Laagan”, “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na”, “Dil Se”, “Rang De Basanti” and his other creations.

The producer, Deepak Gattani, said: “In the 150-minute musical spectacle, the very soul of India can be experienced. From the myths of rural India to the colours of the festivities, the rhythm and beats of the urban culture, this musical concert will have it all.”

The music maestro will also travel by road in a bus during the tour. The entire team will move around in 53-foot air conditioned trailers with six touring coaches and one star coach ferrying the entire entourage.

“An international composer cannot make music that is purely national in quality,” Rahman said.

“This will be the first time that I will be performing in London since winning the Oscar and so it is important to play music that will be accepted by an international audience but which retains an essential Indian quality,” he added.

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Pritish Nandy Communications’ feature film “Ek Tho Chance” will be screened at the 23rd Singapore International Film Festival to be held April 15-24.

Directed by filmmaker Saeed Akhtar Mirza, “Ek Tho Chance” features actors like Purab Kohli, Amrita Arora, Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak. The movie will be screened in the Cinema Today section at the festival.

“Cinema Today is about a modern interpretation of global issues and although ‘Ek Tho Chance’ is aimed at showing the hopeful, the aspirational and sometimes desperate lives of people in Mumbai, we’re convinced that people from all across the world would appreciate the efforts of director Mirza and his honesty towards the subject since Mumbai is on the world map after ‘Slumdog Millionaire’,” festival director Philip Cheah said.

The movie was also screened at the 43rd WorldFest Houston International Film Festival that started Friday.

After Singapore, “Ek Tho Chance” will travel to London where it has been invited by Cary Sawhney, director of the first edition of the London Indian Film Festival in July.

New Delhi, April 12 (IANS) After “Slumdog Millionaire” the makers of another British film are headed to India to look for new South Asian faces for their venture and possibly “find the next star”.

Yugesh Walia, the producer of the yet-to-be-titled film, told IANS the reason for exploring casting possibilities in India is “because of the lack of enough choice in Indian and Pakistani actors in Britain.” He said it would be “more of an exploratory casting trip with an intention to see if we can cast for three characters – Kamal the male lead, Nazia the female lead and Amir, the antagonist.”

The movie centres on the Indian and Pakistani communities in Britain. It is about a man who restores the honour of families by returning their runaway women. The man falls in love with one of the women only to discover that she belongs to a gangster.

Yugesh and his brother Sunandan Walia of Endboard Productions are producing and directing the film. It was initially titled “The Bounty Hunter”, but the producers are now planning to change it as an American film of the same name, starring Jenifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, has been released.

The qualities that the producers are seeking in their actors are “a commanding screen presence along with an extraordinary acting ability to interpret these powerful roles”.

Auditions for the movie will take place in New Delhi starting April 19 and in Mumbai a few days later. The producers are open to casting fresh faces as well as roping in popular faces.

“We are looking for anybody who can convincingly play these roles. These can include actors who may have a few films to their credit and show a lot of potential. Actors from theatre perhaps. But we are interested in fresh faces also. We would love to be pleasantly surprised. It would be exciting to find the next star,” Walia told IANS over e-mail from Birmingham.

Thanks to Lovleen Tandon’s casting, Frieda Pinto, a small-time model, became an overnight star after the success of Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Last year Walia was dogged with queries about having roped in Indian actress Urvashi Sharma for the project. But he denied the reports.

Asked if he is looking forward to casting her, he said: “No. But of course she is at liberty to respond to our casting call.”

Though most of their documentaries have been shot in India, Walia says this project will be shot entirely in Britain as the story is based there. However, he says it could become an Indo-British co-production if an Indian investor wants to join it.

The Walia brothers are also in the process of adapting “Poona Company”, an autobiographical story by Britain-based novelist and scriptwriter Farrukh Dhondy, and “Cold Blood”, a thriller set in Antarctica in the near future.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Kathryn Bigelow, the only woman to win an Oscar for direction, hopes her film “The Hurt Locker” – on a US bomb disposal squad in Iraq – will make Indian audiences “understand that soldiers are acting as nation builders and peacemakers”.

“I am expecting that the Indian audience will appreciate our work too. I want them to understand that soldiers are acting as nation builders and peacemakers. They have courage and heroism, but fragility under fire too and the effective or ineffective ability to retain composure in a life or death situation,” Bigelow told IANS in an email interview from California.

“I want my audience to love our work. So let’s just cross our fingers now and hope for the best from the Far East as well,” she added.

“The Hurt Locker”, about a US bomb disposal squad in Iraq, has an ensemble cast of Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Evangeline Lilly, and Ralph Fiennes. It was released in India Friday.

Bigelow’s war drama “The Hurt Locker” edged out ex-husband and acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron’s “Avatar” in the race for the Oscars this year. The film not only won six Oscars, it also made Bigelow the first woman to take home the golden statuette for a director in the 82-year-old history of the Academy Awards.

Having to her credit films like “Near Dark”, “Point Break” and “The Weight of Water”, Bigelow is now keeping busy “working on pre-production of an untitled drama series for television” and the script of her next film.

“Nothing final for now. But for sure with Oscars has come a big responsibility; so whatever I do next has to be bigger than this because now with appraisals I have also added critics to my audience, who will review my work in more stringent ways,” she said.

Having successfully dealt with Iraq in “The Hurt Locker”, the 58-year-old may plan an India-based film.

“I don’t know as of now, but I do have plans,” she said on planning a film on India. “I will certainly think about it and would love to experiment with different subjects. So let’s see how it works ahead,” Bigelow said.

“Now with its (Indian) entertainment industry really known well in the world, Indian cinema, I feel, is a different journey all together,” she added.

Asked if she had heard of any Indian filmmakers or actors, she said: “I don’t know many (Indian) actors and not much of cinema. I only know of Indian directors in the UK or US making India-based films like Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor.”

And has she seen any Indian film?

“I like to watch world cinema and have seen lots of non-English films, say, Iranian, Portuguese, Korean but have not seen any Indian (ones) yet. Though I have seen Shekhar Kapoor’s ‘Elizabeth’, Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Mira’s ‘Amelia’ then ‘Bride and Prejudice’… I liked them all. They have done incredible work,” she said.

Would she like to collaborate with Indian actors?

“Well, I don’t know much people there but certainly when things work, you get to know a lot of them. But not thought as of now. But certainly I would plan to be there workwise.

“And, yes, I don’t mind working with Indian artists as Bollywood is now the second largest film industry in the world and it is growing at a fast pace,” said Bigelow who is yet to visit India.

“I haven’t been there, but, yes, I will surely make a visit soon. I adore Indian culture and would definitely love to visit this divine place whenever I get a chance,” she said.

(Robin Bansal can be contacted at robin.b@ians.in)

Washington, April 9 (IANS) On the wings of publicity generated by their escapade, two wannabe reality TV stars who crashed a White House state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh kicked off ‘USA vs. India’ polo festivities at a glittering party here.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who sauntered into Nov 24 event without an invitation, did not have to crash the ‘Hollywood vs. Bollywood’ party Thursday to launch their America’s Polo Cup, featuring a match between Indian and US teams in front of the Washington monument on June 12.

In fact the Salahis were the key attraction at the event sponsored by India’ s Kingfisher Airlines, Glittarazzi, a Washington-based social and gossip blog and JMD Creations to officially launch the Cup.

The kick off event at a downtown Washington hotel, a couple of blocks from the White House featured local celebrities and several dance groups, including the “Kajal and the Dhoonya Indian Dance Team” which performed live on Oprah to Slumdog Millionaire’s “Jai Ho”.

The Indian embassy, which had held a reception for the Salahis in September to announce the match, terminated its association with the 2010 America’s Polo Cup after the gate crashing incident.

London, April 9 (IANS) “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto is “flattered” by rumours linking her to a role in the new 007 movie but insists that she is not “beautiful” enough to play a Bond girl.

“It was very flattering. I don’t know if I would have done it. I am too young to be a Bond girl and you need someone more mature and beautiful than me,” starpulse.com quoted Frieda as saying.

Frieda was recently reported to have signed up to play Daniel Craig’s love interest in the next James Bond blockbuster, which will be directed by Sam Mendes.

A representative for the actress dismissed the rumours, confirming that Pinto has “not been approached” by Bond bosses.

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) The British Council theatre here reverberated with the song “Jai Ho” from the Oscar winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” as musicians of the renowned London Philarmonic Orchestra (LPO) Wednesday conducted a music workshop for school children.

The one day workshop was organised by LPO in collaboration with Aviva Life Insurance at the British Council theatre. It was part of their 10-day tour during which they will perform in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.

During the workshop, the musicians introduced children to various instruments and demonstrated various techniques of playing instruments. More than 200 students from nearly 20 schools across Delhi took part in the workshop.

“The work we do with the schools forms such an integral part of the work we do as an orchestra. We are delighted to have the opportunity to perform these workshops, to explain some of our western classical instruments and styles of performance,” said LPO’s education director Matthew Todd.

Sydney, March 21 (ANI): Freida Pinto has signed a multi-million pound deal to become the next Bond girl, it has emerged.

The ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ star will play the suave spy’s love interest in the 23rd James Bond movie after being approached by director Sam Mendes.

The new Bond flick is set in Afghanistan.

‘Sam has been talking about Bond for months now and is so excited about it. The project has been in the pipeline for months and Freida was always the dream Bond girl, but initially she was nervous about accepting it,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted a source as saying.

‘This is going to be the most ambitious 007 yet. Sam plans to reinvent the genre.

‘Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen, has penned the first draft of the script and it promises to be visually stunning,’ the source added.

Pinto’s beau, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ co-star Dev Patel, is excited about his girlfriend’s high-profile role.

The source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: ‘It will be a typically glamorous and raunchy role and Dev has been joking to friends he is cool with seeing Freida rolling around with 007.’ (ANI)

London, March 21 (IANS) “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto has been roped in to play the next Bond girl and her boyfriend Dev Patel is cool with seeing her “rolling around” with the super spy, says a report.

The 24-year-old actress will be seen alongside Daniel Craig in the upcoming 007 movie, which is to be directed by Sam Mendes. It will be set in Afghanistan, contactmusic.com reported.

“It will be a typically glamorous and raunchy role and Dev (Patel) has been joking to friends he is cool with seeing Freida rolling around with 007,” said a source.

Meanwhile, American actress Olivia Wilde is reportedly in talks to star as the second Bond girl in the 23rd outing of the spy franchise.

“Sam (Mendes) has been talking about Bond for months now and is so excited about it. The project has been in the pipeline for months and Freida was always the dream Bond girl, but initially she was nervous about accepting it,” said a source.

“This is going to be the most ambitious 007 yet. Sam plans to reinvent the genre. Peter Morgan, who wrote ‘The Queen’, has penned the first draft of the script and it promises to be visually stunning.”

New York, March 19 (ANI): Sam Mendes, who is directing the 23rd installment of the 007 series, is looking for the next Bond babe, and as of now it’s only Freida Pinto’s name that has surfaced in the list of contenders.

The film is fast tracked for a 2011 release, reports the New York Post.

The new flick, starring Daniel Craig as the licensed-to-kill British agent, will be in 3-D.

Pinto gained worldwide fame after starring in Oscar winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.(ANI)