Movie profile: Mallika Sherawat
Mallika Sherawat never fails to shock. Just when one thinks she has come of age as an actress, she comes out with more shocking statements and never fails to get embroiled in one controversy after another. This time round, however, the actress seems to be trying to master her most dangerous enemy - her tongue - and failing spectacularly. Here, we examine her journey from small town girl to one of the most noticed actresses in Bollywood. Mallika Sherawat is undeniably a sex symbol and is not afraid to exploit the media to achieve what she wants. Still, the actress seems slightly tired at constantly being the brunt of negative coverage even though it gives her more publicity. Still, she believes that people are criticizing her constantly probably because they dislike her. A case of jealousy being the best compliment. In the same breath, she adds that Indian mothers hate her - no surprise there. Probably because Sherawat is too sexy and too honest for them. She says that her brutal honesty has made her more enemies than friends - no surprise there. And then naively wonders why she is being singled out when most other Bollywood actresses use their body to gain media mileage too. She says she feels comfortable being honest - about everything from politics to sex - something which is not taken well in Bollywood, which cloaks itself in a kind of pseudo-conservative veil and where actresses refuse to admit to having boyfriends. Till Mallika came by, most Bollywood film heroines were eternal virgins - at least till they got pregnant out of wedlock or got married legally, whichever came first. So, being Mallika isn't easy and she doesn’t make it any easier for herself. To her credit, she did bag a miniscule role in Jackie Chan's The Myth and got more coverage from the media than many other actresses who were doing better in their careers. There were also rumors of an affair with Chan but Mallika made a regal entrance on the red carpet at Cannes and Toronto, seemingly unaware of all the rumors. And all this only in her third year in the film industry. 
She also says she understands the need to do better work and talk less to the media. While we will not get any more juicy quotes from her, it certainly will protect her from the cold-blooded criticism she has had to endure in her short career. Looking at her, one feels that the girl from Haryana is simply too honest for hypocritical Bollywood. Considering that she loves being in cinema, will we see a more tactful Mallika soon? The bottom-line is that one cannot help but hope that Mallika makes in big in Bollywood. To do that, though, Mallika will have to start reinventing herself - fast.
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Honest to a
Fault?
As far as her Bollywood
films are concerned, she had Khwashish, Murder and then
Bachke Rehna Re Baba. Not many were impressed. Still, the
fact that she has managed to remain in the public eye says a lot
about how determined she is to make it big in Bollywood. She is
doing cameos in Ram Gopal Varma’s Darna Zaroori Hai,
Subhash Ghai’s Shaadi Se Pehle and in another film with
PNC, opposite Rahul Bose. Not exactly a star career but she
believes that they will lead to better, bigger roles.
