For Freida Pinto, diversity is not about being “black or brown” or isn’t just confined to what one sees on camera but is what goes behind it. The US-based Indian actress, who found fame with the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, says unless the debate on diversity extends beyond skin colour, it is “pointless and redundant”.
From veteran actors like Shashi Kapoor, Kabir Bedi, Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Anil Kapoor and Lillete Dubey to names like Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone — Indian actors have made their mark in foreign filmdom.
While most of them have evaded stereotypical presentation, Freida feels there’s a need to broaden the definition of “diversity”.
“Everybody wants to talk about diversity, but I like to broaden the definition. It is not just diversity in terms of ethnicity and skin colour, as in black or brown. It has become a redundant conversation. It is not about representing people on sexual orientation. That should never be a barrier for the kind of roles that people play,” Freida told IANS over phone.
She added: “I think diversity is a compulsory subject matter and, yes, there is a certain issue in films. But look at the world… It does not look like a white persons’ world. There are all different kinds of people in it and all different kinds of actors and languages.”
The 31-year-old, who has already worked with the likes of actor Christian Bale and filmmaker Woody Allen, feels there is a need to focus on other important aspects of filmmaking than just see what meets the eye.
She said: “It is not only the representation that you see on camera; what about the people who write, what about the people who direct, what about the people who produce? So for me, diversity becomes a very pointless conversation after a while if people are only talking about and sticking to colour of skin.
“Colour of the skin is not diversity.”
