Freida Pinto?

Guest blogger thelincmeister on the identity of the lovely lady in certain music video. Could we have a possible Pinto sighting?

I have been watching the new Indian reality competition “Dance India Dance” and find Terrence Lewis the fairest and nicest judge of them all.

Unlike Remo D’Souza and Geeta Kapur, Terrence will point out the flaws of his team, take the blame when needed, but at the same time deliver his criticisms in a gentle way.  He also seems to know when to scale back on the criticism for a contestant who may be in danger of losing confidence.  Plus he seems to say genuinely nice things to contestants, and he actually comes off as if he means it.  (All of this apparently has made him a hit with the young female audience,  I observed by the comments and forum topics where I watch the show online.)

Also unlike Remo D’Souza, he actually does what the format of the show calls for and nominates his weakest dancers of the week to the elimination round.

“But none of this has to do with Frieda,” you say.

Patience. I am getting to it.  What fun would it be for me to go straight to the topic?

So, in his initial introduction on the show, he mentioned having choreographed the Oscar nominated Lagaan as well as Naach.  Since I am a fan of the Lagaan picturisations I decided to see what else was in his portfolio.

On his website was a list of a handful of music videos he had featured in.

And that, my readers, led me to this.

A cover of the  song “Mana Janab ne pukara nahin” from the 1957 Hindi film Paying Guest.  Featuring and someone who looks like Freida Pinto.

I think I’ve read that she had been in music videos as a model. But there are too many hits to “Jai Ho” when I try to Google it.   However, Google does lead me to a recent music video featuring, without a doubt, Freida Pinto.

Personally, I would turn down the volume and just watch the vid.  The music and lyrics to this song aren’t my cup of tea. (More info found here.)

But back to the first video.

From what gather, the album is from late 2000/early 2001.   If it were Freida Pinto in the video, she would’ve had to be pretty young.

It does really look like it could be her, though.  If only the girl in the video flashed a toothy smile.  But for comparison purposes.  I give you a few pictures.  As well as what is probably the best site for pictures of the Slumdog Millionaire starlet.

Look through the pictures, you will see the definite resemblance.  Down to the slight dimple on the left side of her face.

Even more than that, plenty of interviews, blurbs and write-ups have mentioned her salsa training.

And though the video isn’t exactly purely salsa, Google tells me that this was some cross promotion by Havana Club International, Pernod Ricard, Virgin Records and some Latin Dance Club for “India’s first Cuban style rum.” 

According to a press release issued by the company, the Santiago brand will ride on the distinct Latino imagery which is to appeal to the young, trendy and the sensuous. The company plans advertisements on television, print media, shop signage as well as promoting the brands through Latino parties, sampling promotions and spot incentives.

Along with the rum, Habanos (Cuban cigars) were imported for Latino Theme evenings in various cities. 

And apparently there were plans launch more similar cross promotions.

At the launch of the Latino album in the Capital, the Pernod Ricard CMD, Albert Elgrissy, said his company would release more such compilations to popularize Latin-American music, in the process also creating a buzz around its own products.

Interesting, na?  For me, the globalized mass media marketing fascinates more than the possible Pinto connection.