Aside from critical acclaim and numerous awards, one of the best things to come out of the inspiring film “Slumdog Millionaire” was the discovery of its two stars: actor Dev Patel, who played the key role in the film; and his love interest, the beautiful, talented and opinionated Freida Pinto.

It’s been almost a decade since the film was released, garnered earnest recognition and spawned two much-talked-about names. Patel and Pinto ended up seeing each other but eventually broke up after six years of dating. Neither said much about the breakup and the two remain friends, but very little about their personal lives has been published.

Pinto prefers to keep her personal affairs away from the limelight. In an interview with Inquirer Super, she explained, “I guess a lot is not said of what I am behind the camera because I love my privacy. I just like to keep my private life really private. I feel so much of our lives are already so exposed. My private life is very, very important to me, my private moments.”

“At the end of the day I’m just super tired and I just want to sit on my couch, watch Netflix with a scotch in my hand. That’s such a private and intimate and important moment for me. That which obviously I don’t mind sharing with you today but it’s obviously not something I’d talk about all the time. It’s like my little intimate moment. Yeah, I guess I’m just someone who loves going out but also loves just relaxing and unwinding at home.”

Pinto has been chosen as the new global ambassador of Johnnie Walker’s #LoveScotch campaign. It’s something she values because again, it’s a way for her to eradicate stereotypical views about women.

Busting stereotypes

She explained, “I’m enjoying it a lot because I get to bust some stereotypes and myths about scotch. Everyone thinks that scotch is an old man’s drink and it’s not the case at all. I’m 32 years old and I love scotch. My sister’s 35 and she loves scotch.”

Of course, Pinto appreciates the fun part—“I’m really enjoying also meeting people from the brand, who are educating me on mixing scotch into cocktails.”

Pinto also met the #LoveScotch ambassadors for the Philippines: with TV host Raymond Gutierrez, Sunnies creative director Martine Cajucom, singer-songwriter Jess Connelly, and entrepreneur and Solenn Heussaff’s other half, Nico Bolzico.

While Pinto is about her appreciation for a drink or two, she is still ever as cautious and responsible. She sets her own limits.

“I think drinking is something that you do with a lot of responsibility. I feel people who drink to pass out and escape, they’re not really enjoying the alcohol, like drinking just for the sake of drinking. When I really enjoy drinking is when I’m really savoring the taste. When it’s scotch, it’s an old-fashioned cocktail, I’m really savoring the taste.”

Pinto has been active throughout the years through her film projects. She was given the opportunity to work with Woody Allen in the comedy-drama film “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” and Julian Schnabel in the biopic “Miral.” She also starred in “Planet of the Apes” with James Franco and “Knight of Cups” with Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Antonio Banderas.

Pinto is grateful for the opportunities she has been granted in a foreign country. “I feel so lucky; I feel that I am so blessed to have this career that I’ve had. And I owe a big part of it to America as well because that’s where I live, that’s my home now, that’s where I have my friends.”

She recalls coming to America and personally working with its former first lady. “I just felt that there was such a sense of hope, of perseverance and determination. For me, having experienced that, I am not willing in any which way to let go of that feeling and to let other people feel despondent. And I wanna be able to take that 10 steps forward, no matter what the government is right now.”

Women empowerment

Michelle Obama and Pinto are both advocates of women empowerment through education and have spearheaded projects to push for it. The former first lady launched Let Girls Learn while Pinto started Girl Rising. Pinto has only nice things to say about the former US first lady.

“So many girls who miss out on education miss out on empowerment; miss out on having a voice. And the things girls are subjected to, this is something that deeply affects the whole world. It affects not just women, it affects men as well. So yes, girls’ education is one of my most important causes.”

This is why she started Girl Rising, which she inevitably brought to her home country. “I’m very proud of that project because it’s something I started on a global level. And then we took it to India, we had a more localized program in India. You can’t take something that is global or American in appeal and expect every local culture to get it.”

She added, “So let’s say Girl Rising Philippines happened, we would have to make it more pertaining to the Filipino culture.”

Pinto is alarmed by what is currently happening in the US government, knowing that it will affect people of other nationalities like her. She is also worried about how the current administration will affect the plight of women. Pinto sees the value of welcoming immigrants into one’s country and believes that doing so has many benefits. “To kill dreams and to stop them from… I don’t think the average American would want to be associated with the people who are anti-Muslim or people who are anti-Mexican… I really hope good sense and common sense prevail.”

Sense of fulfillment

Pinto’s humanitarian projects have ultimately given her a different sense of fulfillment.

“I actually feel the happiest when some of the nonprofit things that I work on get some kind of mileage. For me that’s the most important. When I did Girl Rising for India and we had to basically want it to be part of a national campaign, and I ended up figuring out how to get a meeting with the prime minister of India. And I ended up making it a national campaign and that gave me so much joy.”

“So yeah, for me, as much as I love acting, a lot of those awards are very subjective. The person who’s deciding whether you deserve an award or deserve recognition is another person. But when you do something on a nonprofit level, the person who’s benefiting is the person who needs it the most, and that feels like the bigger award.”