Mallika Sherawat, the 42-year-old actress who was last seen in the Chinese film, Time Raiders spoke up about her disappearance from Bollywood. After her scandalous debut with Murder in 2004, the actress did a series of movies but soon faded away from the industry six years ago.
In a recent interview with PTI, she spilled the beans about why she lost out on films, “I lost film projects because they thought I was opinionated. I would hear from heroes ‘don’t cast her she speaks a lot and has a lot of opinions”. They would prefer their girlfriends instead of me in projects. I can list at least 20-30 movies that I’ve lost. But it didn’t make me bitter. It was my gradual evolution. Now when I look back, they look like fools, all of them.”
She also shared how her feminist opinions weren’t accepted by the people she worked with, “When I spoke about women’s issues, there were people in Bollywood and the media who thought I wasn’t a patriot and weren’t ready to listen. I know actresses who attacked me. But I love my country and hence this regressive mindset we have against women needs to change.”
Now, Mallika is all set to make her digital debut with Ekta Kapoor’s web series, Booo Sabki Phategi, starring Tusshar Kapoor and Krishna Abhishek. She believes that the freedom that comes with digital platforms is helping the industry move forward, away from the traditional ideals of Bollywood, “Actors are seeing a freedom which wasn’t there before. Now is the golden period where you get meaty parts and express yourself freely. There’s censorship, films are formulaic. Traditional Bollywood is very fearful, they don’t want to take a risk if the formula is working. There are exceptions like Stree, Andhadhun and Badhaai Ho, but we make 1500 films a year, out of which only a handful stand out,” the actress said.
The actress shared how one of the reasons why she picked the project was because of the maker, Ekta Kapoor, “I relate to her a lot on so many levels — as a single woman, as a member of Bollywood. It’s very patriarchal. I can imagine how difficult it must’ve been for her to reach where she is today. She always stuck to her ground.”
It feels great to watch women hype each other in the industry!
Featured Image: Instagram
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