Actress Freida Pinto, who plays the lead in British director Michael Winterbottom's Trishna, a modern adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, says she considers it her second Indian film after Slumdog Millionaire' The 27-year-old actress became an overnight star with her role of Latika in Danny Boyle's India-based story and Trishna is set in India, just like Slumdog and has Indian characters despite being directed by a British filmmaker.

Pinto, however, is yet to star in a film in her native country. "For me this is my second Indian film after Slumdog Millionaire. It doesn't matter who makes the film, it is Indian in its essence. 50 per cent of the dialogues are in Marwari and Hindi. Even a film like Gandhi was made in English but is very much Indian," Pinto said at the 42nd Indian International Film Festival here.

Trishna has been shot in Rajasthan and Mumbai, starring Pinto as an Indian village girl who falls in love with a rich man. "We shot in a real setting in a remote village in Ossian in Rajasthan. We lived with a real family and the shots of everyday life are very real. There is a scene in the film where Pinto's character is eve-teased on the roads of Jaipur. "People came out to help me because they thought I was actually being harassed," said Pinto.