I need to reinvent myself, not do the same roles: Mallika Sherawat
Mallika Sherawat is no more the stormy petrel of Bollywood. Once known for her feisty lines on screen, Mallika now looks happy and content with her work. And why not, for she’s signed a Hindi–Tamil bilingual film called Nagmati, directed by V.C. Vadivudiyan. Incidentally, Vadivudiyan is known for making horror films in the south, like Pottu, Veeramadevi and Sowkarpettai.
Speaking to us about her latest film, Mallika shares, “I’ve been working across Hindi, Tamil, English and Chinese, I haven’t done a Tamil film since I worked with Kamal Haasan in Dasavatharam, and Nagmati presented me with the opportunity of working in Tamil films again. I decided to do Nagamati after I heard the story. It is not only a horror film but also an action horror thriller, which speaks about women empowerment. Also, I play a double role in it — one of a warrior queen and the other of a mother. I think it’s the right time to do films like these.”
Getting picky
Mallika has been choosy with work for a while now, she did do a web series called Nakaab with Esha Gupta, for Soumik Sen. “I’d done a web series during the COVID times, and I am glad to be back on a film set! And more importantly, this film has a lot of action, which if you recollect, I have done with Jackie Chan in the Chinese film The Myth and with Kamal Haasan in the Tamil film Dasavatharam. So I am excited to be on sets and do action again,” she adds with a smile.
As for her being choosy with work she believes that transition was important. “And it’s good that I do limited work. You don’t realise the power in saying ‘ no’. Once you do that, you can then pick and choose,” says Mallika.
“I’ve already made lots of money. I don’t want to repeat doing the same roles. I need to reinvent myself. And this film provided me the opportunity to do that. Actors need to be constantly offered good roles. Those roles should shake you up, challenge, and inspire you as an actor. I’ve done several glamorous roles earlier in my career. This film provides substance in addition to glamour.”
That action girl
Through our interaction, we can see how kicked Mallika is about the fact that she’ll get to do lots of action in the movie. “For starters, it’s rare for many actors to be offered roles in period films. I had the fortune of being cast in a horror thriller with action, so I’m doing a few action workshops too.”
The actress then gives us a peek into the kind of stunts she’ll do in the movie. “I’ll be wearing heavy sarees and jewellery and then get on a horse and do sword-fighting. That’s one big challenge and I’m looking forward to it. I don’t want to ride a fake horse. I want to ride a real one and do real sword-fighting for the film,” she says, mentioning Kangana Ranaut’s leaked on-set rushes from her 2019-film Manikarnika. Was that intentional or unintentional? The jury’s still out.
More than an actress
In addition to being an actress, Mallika has been an activist too. One of the regulars at the Cannes Film Festivals, she’d once caged herself in a 12×8-feet cage for 12 hours at the Cannes Red Carpet as part of her support to an NGO called ‘Free A Girl India’ to bring global attention to child prostitution.
“I stayed caged for 12 hours to bring awareness to help victims of child prostitution,” Mallika elaborates. “We wanted to show that this is how the little girls are kept — in small rooms that resemble the cages. They spent their entire life in those cages. Those 12 hours I spent in that cage were so traumatic for me, so imagine what it would have been for those girls!”
So is the bubbly chirpy Reema Lamba (her real name) out of her system now? “What I am cannot go out of my DNA. But then I am going to be portraying different roles and grow as an actor and a human being just as every other actor does,” she says.
As we wind up, Mallika says she’s also signed up a new web series now for Gurmeet Singh — the man who made the Mirzapur series. But she is still excited about Nagmati. “This film is full of surprises. It’s not at all predictable like how most films in the horror genre are,” she trails off.
