Freida Pinto: I am Indian, I dont need to wear a sari to promote Indianness
Freida Pinto covers the 6th anniversary issue of Vogue India with a pictorial called “Black Magic”. It never fails to please and amuse me that Vogue India does their coverlines in English and that their online site is extremely accessible to English-readers. As for Freida… I’m not a huge fan of styling her to look like The Indian Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but then again, she’s totally done worse photoshoots, and she pulls off the “edgy” look better than I was expecting. Some highlights from Vogue India’s cover story:
When she first became famous in 2008/09: She was a shiny debutante overwhelmed by the paparazzi stalking her every move; awed by things like “getting handbags from Tod’s, Bulgari and Dior — all in one day.”
Dancing to ‘Jai ho’ on TV repeatedly: “After one year of doing [it] on every live television show, you go ‘Screw you! I’m not doing it one more time’.”
India and food: “There’s a lavish banquet laid out for me at home every time I come to Mumbai… and it always involves jackfruit, fish curry and rice.”
On Danny Boyle & Slumdog: “He gave me the beginning of what I have now. You’ve got to feel so proud of being part of a film that altered the Goodness Gracious Me concept of India that people had. People don’t like me saying this, but Slumdog did open a lot of doors.”
On her style, and why she doesn’t wear saris on the red carpet: “I am Indian; I don’t need to wear a sari to promote Indianness. A sari is not more Indian than my soul. I have no patience for people who are narrowminded… just be a global citizen and be proud of where you come from.”
I’ll admit it, I wanted to write about this because of that quote about saris. As a half-Indian girl, I’ve worn saris before, and I grew up with my dad telling me that saris were the most elegant article of clothing that a woman could ever wear. I disagreed then as I disagree now, although I do think that many Indian and non-Indian women look beautiful in saris. I don’t think anyone feels like Freida should ONLY wear saris or traditional Indian clothing while she’s out in the world, but I do think some people (me included) were slightly surprised by her insistence on wearing European and American designers almost exclusively. She’s very East-meets-West, and she could totally use her position (as a Fashion Girl) to shine a light on Indian designers who are doing more than saris. But it almost seems like she’s sort of resentful of the idea that she could or should wear Indian designers or embrace something so identifiable to India like the sari. Huh.
Photos courtesy of Vogue India.
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