Freida Pinto feels vintage costumes have ‘a certain royalty’

London: Freida Pinto faced some criticism for her sexy costumes when she played an Arab princess Leyla in her recent film ‘Black Gold’, but the actress says they’re a blend of tradition and modernity.

Based on Hans Ruesch’s sweeping historical novel ‘The Great Thirst’, set in 1930s Arabia at the dawn of the oil boom, it focuses on a young Arab prince torn between allegiances to a conservative father and his modern, liberal father-in-law. The film marks the Doha Film Institute’s first foray into major international filmmaking and had a high profile world premiere at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. The quintessentially Arab tale has been directed by French director Jean Jacques-Annaud. Pinto says the controversial attire came about after much hard work by the film’s costume designer Fabio Perrone. “There’s a certain royalty that comes with vintage costumes and I had an almost two day play-date with Fabio. Jean-Jacques was mindful of dressing me up as the traditional princess while also communicating her desire to just break out and be modern. It’s a blend of both,” the Independent quoted her as saying. Apart from the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ actress, ‘Black Gold’ boasts of an international cast featuring Spaniard Antonio Banderas and Briton Mark Strong as warring emirs, the rising French-Algerian star Tahar Rahim as an Arab prince and the Ethiopian actress and Estee Lauder model Liya Kebede as a rebel tribeswoman. It also stars Britons Akin Gazi, Riz Ahmed and Jan Uddin. ANI