From Simi Garewal to Bipasha Basu, there were several actresses who were established their image as Bollywood’s sex symbols. Another such actress who was called ‘2000s’ Bombshell’, was harassed by a big Bollywood star and even ‘slut shamed’ for her bold scenes.
The actress we are talking about became an overnight star with just one film, however, later gave several flops quit the industry, and left India to settle abroad. She has now made a comeback to screens. She is Mallika Sherawat.
Mallika Sherawat made her grand Bollywood debut with small role in Jeena Sirf Merre Liya but got noticed in the industry with her film Khwahish. She then starred in the movie Murder alongside Emraan Hashmi which made her a star overnight. However, her bold scenes in the movie with Emraan invited criticism.
In an interview with Ranveer Allahbadia, Mallika Sherawat opened up on the problems she faced after gaining stardom for Murder and said that top actors shamed her for bold scenes. She said, “The culture wasn’t ready for me back then, and it wasn’t ready for Murder either. Only now has Bollywood caught up to where I was in 2004, at that time, actresses were expected to follow a certain code of conduct. They were shy, while I was unapologetic. With Murder, a femme fatale was introduced."
She recalled being ‘s**t shamed’ by peers and said, “There are some big-name actresses in Bollywood whose names I won’t take, but they were condescending to my face.” She recalled running to Mahesh Bhatt crying and said, “I ran to him crying, and he told me, ‘So many sluts in Bollywood, one more won’t matter.’ There was so much slut-shaming. They wanted to make me feel ashamed of the bold scenes I did."
After Murder, the actress established herself as Bollywood’s sex symbol and was called 2000s’ Bombshell. However, this also led to some problems for her in the industry. The actress revealed that she was once harassed by a top Bollywood actor and said, “Let me tell you an instance, I was shooting for a big film in Dubai, it was a multi-starrer film. It's a super hit film, people like it a lot, I have done a comedy role in it."
She added, “The hero of that film used to knock on my door at 12:00 am. By knocking, I thought he was going to break the door. Because he wanted to come inside my bedroom. And I was like, no, it's not going to happen. After that, that hero never worked with me.”
After working in films for 22 years and giving over 11 flops, Mallika Sherawat moved to Los Angeles. The actress lives in a plush home there. However, she has now made a comeback to films with Raaj Shaandilya’s Vicky Aur Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video. However, the film has opened to mixed responses from the audience.
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