Bond girl Freida Pinto

Mar 20, 2010, 13:01 GMT

Freida Pinto is to become the next Bond girl.

The 'Slumdog Millionaire' actress has signed a multi-million pound deal to play the suave spy's love interest in the 23rd James Bond movie - which is set in Afghanistan - after being approached by director Sam Mendes.

A source said: "Sam has been talking about Bond for months now and is so excited about it. The project has been in the pipeline for months and Freida was always the dream Bond girl, but initially she was nervous about accepting it. This is going to be the most ambitious 007 yet. Sam plans to reinvent the genre.

"Peter Morgan, who wrote 'The Queen', has penned the first draft of the script and it promises to be visually stunning."

Freida is currently dating her 'Slumdog Millionaire' co-star Dev Patel and he is thrilled his girlfriend was won such a high-profile role.

The source added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "It will be a typically glamorous and raunchy role and Dev has been joking to friends he is cool with seeing Freida rolling around with 007."

Freida will star alongside Daniel Craig, who will be reprising his role as Bond once more, while US actress Olivia Wilde has been approached to play a double-crossing UN worker based in Afghanistan.