CELEBS FACTORY

Tena Desae and her prior films - 'Yeh Faasle' and 'Sahi Dhande Galat Bande'in Hindi - may have gone unnoticed, but her third film was not just noticed but also attracted the international attention being directed by John Madden, whose previous work includes Oscar Winner 'Shakespeare in Love.

John Madden's 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' features an ensemble cast, with Judi Dench, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton as a group of British retirees staying in an ancient retirement hotel in India run by Sonny played by Dev Patel.

Tena Desae, the pretty Indian model turned actor adds the Indian flavor to the film as the beautiful Sunaina, with Whom Sonny is madly in Love with..

Fresh from the positive reviews that the film has generated, Tena is ecstatic as she says, "I was so edgy prior to the release, because this film was going to be seen all over the world. While I had experienced the excitement of working with an ensemble cast, seeing myself on the big screen was going to be a totally different affair! And I must say, the initial reactions have really made me happy."

As the young actress is excited with her debut international film, ask her how she's dealing with comparisons being made to Freida Pinto and she says, "We both may have started the same way, but obviously we are different individuals and will chart our film journeys in our own ways. Honestly speaking, the comparisons with Freida don't really rattle me. I was almost prepared that this will happen!"

And now that Tena will be flooded with film offers, does it mean bye-bye to modeling?

"Why should I have to say bye to one thing to do another? I can do lots of things at one time and as much as I love to do films, I'd love to do ads as well!," said the gorgeous belle of her desire to continue modelling while she acts.

Her phenomenal rise to stardom continues to be a hot discussing point. Freida Pinto’s last release Planet of the Apes raked in moolah but words of appreciation eluded her as she was criticized as being just a pretty face in the movie. Now, Freida is back with her new movie Trishna which was showcased recently at the Toronto International Film Festival and fetched her compliments galore for the portrayal of a subdued poor girl.

Trishna, directed by British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, is the story of a young woman from rural India, serenaded and seduced by the son of a wealthy hotel owner played by Riz Ahmed. She is completely smitten by him. But the movie doesn’t end happily - she is the target of his abuse culminating in acts of sexual degradation.

The movie has explicit sex scenes between Freida and Riz Ahmed. But did Freida have reservations doing such scenes in front of camera. No! she says, “I understood what Michael was getting at. It was not just gratuitous. It was required. We were talking about a passionate love story gone wrong. It bordered on sadism. So I did not see anything wrong in it.”

What about Dev Patel, who was also present with her at the screening of the movie at TIFF? How did he react to her performance in the film? He was overwhelmed and loved the film; of course, there was a sense of pride too.

The lucky actress feels at home in Toronto as her first film Slumdog Millionaire, followed by You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Miral and now Trishna, all premiered at TIFF.

It looks like Anil Kapoor has earned Freida Pinto's ire. The Slumdog Millionaire actress, who features as the guest in this week's Simi Selects India's Most Desirable, has confessed that Anil should not have spoken about her romance with co-star Dev Patel.

Anil Kapoor had stated in an interview that he could sense the chemistry between the two.

"If Anil Kapoor witnessed it when we were experiencing it, I must say that he is a genius... but he shouldn't have said it before we said it... I was at the red carpet and he is suddenly talking to Ryan Secrest (American radio and TV personality) and saying things that are embarrassing me and I was like what is happening... where do I look?" said Frieda.

Indian actor Freida Pinto, who has made her place at the international platform after the sucess of her film 'Slumdog Millionaire' talks about her relationship with beau Dev Patel.

The 26-year-old actor who has been dating her Slumdog co-star Dev Patel for the last two years, says that they have reached an understanding where their career commitments come before their relationship.

The petite actor met Patel on the sets of the Oscar winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire' and says that though their work schedules keep them apart for months they don't really mind it.

"We've arrived at a situation where understanding is primary. Now we don't need to Skype all the time, we don't need to talk every day over the phone. It's just understanding that OK, he's doing a film right now, so today is gonna be a busy day for him, he'll call me up tomorrow," said Pinto.

The actress who studied English literature at a university in Mumbai, admits that she never felt "satisfied" by academic studies and though she has accomplished a lot, she feels she and her sister are the "least educated".

"I actually didn't mind school, and I enjoyed university and college. But while that was happening I still knew that this was not satisfying enough. So among my friends' circle, I'm the least educated!," concluded Pinto.

They met and fell for each other on the sets of their debut film 'Slumdog Millionaire' which went on to win eight Oscars, but Freida Pinto says that she and Dev Patel will never share the screen again.

The 26-year-old said that they will never be able to recreate the "magic" of the Mumbai-based potboiler, reported Daily Mail online.

"I wouldn't want to work with him, but I don't mean that in a bad way. He said something similar in an interview that was misinterpreted. What he was trying to say is that so much happened on Slumdog Millionaire, in terms of it becoming so big, that if the two of us were paired in a film as a couple again it wouldn't live up to that. Nothing ever could. It's too much magic to live up to on screen" said the 26-year-old.

The actress who is winning rave reviews for her role as a Palestinian orphan in the Julian Schabel film 'Miral' said that she and Patel, 6 years her junior, have already

Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto admits that she is a little overwhelmed by the speed with which she went from being a Mumbai-based model aspiring to be an actress to becoming the kind of celebrity who is pursued by the paparazzi and features on the cover of GQ.

“There is always this fear that your moment is here and that it will never come again. Being in the right place at the right time, and being cast as Latika, is the story of my life as well as that of Slumdog Millionaire,” the Daily Mail quoted her, as saying.

The younger of two daughters born into a privileged middle-class family, Pinto became a model after gaining a BA in English Literature from St Xavier’s College in Mumbai.

Determined to move from modelling to acting, she experienced more than her fair share of rejection, auditioning for ‘hundreds’ of roles before Danny Boyle cast her as Latika.

The rest is history.

The fact that the love story in the Slumdog was echoed in real life with a romance between Freida and British actor Dev Patel has added to their growing mutual celebrity.

Six years her junior, Patel’s post-Slumdog success might not have equalled that of his girlfriend, but the couple remain very much an item even if their working schedules make time together difficult.

“It’s about respecting each other’s work and respecting the relationship. We have to think, “OK, you are working there and I am working here but we are going to have to make time for each other.” We have the same attitude to our work. When I am filming I can’t be thinking about him, and when he is filming he can’t be thinking about me,’ said Pinto.

The relationship seems to be strong enough to withstand the long periods apart and any resentment or jealousies that might naturally arise when two people are working in the same industry.

There will not, however, be a sequel to Slumdog Millionaire, and no chance of the couple being cast together in the foreseeable future.

"I wouldn’t want to work with him, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. He said something similar in an interview that was misinterpreted. What he was trying to say is that so much happened on Slumdog Millionaire, in terms of it becoming so big, that if the two of us were paired in a film as a couple again it wouldn’t live up to that. Nothing ever could. It’s too much magic to live up to on screen,’ she said.