Freida Pinto to star in Israeli film

After a dream debut in Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, Indian actress Freida Pinto is in Israel to shoot for a new film that focuses on the interwoven lives of a Israeli and Palestinian women from the early years of the state through the early 1990s.

The film, Miral by eminent American filmmaker Julian Schnabel, will be filmed entirely here and the shooting is scheduled to start next month immediately after the Passover holidays.

The screenplay has been adopted by Schnabel, of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly fame, from a book by Palestinian-Italian writer Rula Jebreal who is said to have helped finalise the script.

Pinto, 24, will be sharing the screen with female lead Hiam Abbass (Lemon Tree), a Palestinian actress who lives in France.

The film's Israeli producer, Eran Riklis, said that the casting for the film has not yet been completed.

Following the dizzying success of Slumdog, which took home eight Oscars and whose worldwide box office receipts so far are estimated at over USD 270 million, the Indian model turned actress' has bagged roles in a number of International projects including Woody Allen's next flick due to be filmed this summer in London. She has been cast in the film alongside Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins.