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Could Oscar Winner John Ridley's 'Guerrilla' Be Freida Pinto's Breakthrough In American TV?

Pinto has a meaty role in Showtime's upcoming series.
Showtime

Freida Pinto, whose last major screen appearance was perhaps in Terrence Mallick's Knight of Cups, is back with a feisty role in Guerrilla, a new limited-series helmed by John Ridley and produced by Idris Elba.

Ridley, who wrote the multiple Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave, won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has also written the screenplay for the Emmy-Award winning TV series, American Crime.

In Guerrilla, which is set to premiere on Showtime in April, Pinto and her lover fall victim to the racism prevalent in 1970s London. Not the one to bow down, the couple transition from being political activists to forming a radical underground cell with the ultimate aim to destroy the Black Power Desk, a secretive counter-intelligence unit assigned to contain all forms of Black Activism.

Going by Guerrilla's trailer it is apparent that Pinto has a strong part and the series could just mark her breakthrough in television.

Although one of the early Indian actors to migrate to Hollywood, Pinto's career has been marred by sporadic appearances in big-ticket films but none of them have gotten her award-season buzz or critical praise.

This despite appearing in films directed by top auteurs like Terrence Mallick, Woody Allen, Michael Winterbottom besides several others.

On the other hand, her contemporary, Dev Patel, who too sprung on the scene with Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, has gone on to appear in a number of well-received roles, with the most recent one being Garth Davis' Lion that earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Perhaps Ridley's show, which talks about sensitive race relations, a subject that is as relevant today as it was ever before, could potentially change that for Pinto.

Here's the show's trailer.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.