After Radhika Apte, it is Freida Pinto’s turn to play the celebrated Indian-British spy Noor Inayat Khan during World War2. Freida will play the lead in a series based on author Shrabani Basu’s book Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan. Freida is also the executive producer of the series.

This career move seems ill-advised. As it is, Freida is not doing too well. Her last release Love Wedding Repeat was an awful mess, and miss. And in her other recent release Hilbilly Elegy she hardly has anything to do. The decision to play Noor Inayat Khan must come from a place of steep insecurity.

With her international career almost frozen the decision to produce a series that revolves around Freida looks like a career-saving device. However the spy Noor has already been played brilliantly by Radhika Apte in the well-conceived film Spies Like Us. Why do we need an encore when it’s already been done as best as possible?Ms Pinto should think about it.