MUMBAI – She first hit the silverscreen with the Oscar-winning SlumdogMillionaire in 2008.Since then, talks have been rife about Mumbai girl Freida Pinto’s Bollywooddebut. Five years later comes the newsthat she is all set for B-town with Navdeep Singh’s (he directed ManoramaSix Feet Under; 2007)next, titled NH10.What’s interesting isthat Freida’s co-star will be Raj KumarYadav, who is currently making waveswith his performance in AbhishekKapoor’s Kai Po Che.Touted to be a thriller involving a roadtrip, the film will apparently see Freida inthe role of a female detective.”NH10 stands for National Highway No10.
It will be produced by the same productionhouse, Phantom, that’s also producingQueen, starring Kangana Ranautand Rajkumar,” says a trade insider.
Thefilm is likely to be shot in and aroundDelhi during an extended schedule.Although other details are yet to emerge,NH10 will probably go on the floors bymid-2013 and should release early nextyear.At present, Rajkumar is looking forwardto the release of his next, Shahid, directedby Hansal Mehta. Meanwhile, Freidais wrapping up the Christian Bale-starrerKnight Of Cups.
Earlier, Freida’s closest Bollywood connectionwas the 2011 film, Trishna, producedby Anurag Kashyap and SunilBohra.”Freida was interested in Bollywood butshe was waiting for the right project.
Now, things have fallen into place. Also,she isn’t hung up about starring oppositebig stars only. She is fine with workingwith new actors in indie projects,” addsthe insider. Navdeep couldn’t be reachedfor a comment, but Rajkumar confirmsthe news.
