The mere mention of internationally known Bollywood actress-danseuse Mallika Sherawat’s name conjures up images of a bohemian oomph-oozing glam-babe who exposes uninhibitedly.  

Counters the ‘Murder’ heroine, “It’s definitely a cool compliment to be tagged a hot-babe. But then there is much more to me than just erotic sex-appeal.

Check out my acting performance as well, is my appeal to viewers.

In the past, I have also acted in classy comedy Hindi movies like ‘Pyar Ke Side Effects’ opposite Rahul Bose. Later on, I came up with these Hollywood films ‘Hiss’ (co-star Irrfan Khan) and then ‘Politics of Love’ both of which were premiered at Cannes.” What about her latest fling with scare-fare? 

“Now my ‘Booo Sabki Phategi’ a wacko horror-comedy web-series will start streaming from June 27 on Ekta Kapoor’s ALT Balaji digital platform where my screen-presence and scary antics are being well-appreciated. It’s the first time ever that I will be seen in a horror-comedy zone. Luckily, I don’t have to look ghastly or macabre but a ‘wow’ ethnic glam-ghost…haha.  The icing on the cake is that my co-star in ‘Booo..’ is actor Tusshar Kapoor who was the hero in my cameo-debut movie some 17 years ago.

But our continuity-bonhomie vibes have been so good, that I feel that I am sharing screen space with Tusshar, maybe just after 17 months and not years,” gushes Mallika who also had to contend with seasoned co-star comedians like Krishna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda and Sanjay Mishra in her current hilarious web-series. Interestingly, off-screen the shapely Sherawat is a “huge ardent fan” of legendary composer-singer R D Burman(RDB). The adulation is visible in her eyes when she shares, “Call it a surreal coincidence that on RDB’s 80th birth anniversary which also falls on June 27, my web-series ‘Boo—Sabki Phategi is being released.

In ‘Boo…’ there is this recurring haunting theme track of this reprised iconic RDB song ‘Duniya mein logon ko dhoka kabhi ho jaata hai’. Interestingly, in my initial love-story movie ‘Khwahish’, I played this exuberant yet terminally ill lover-girl whose ‘dying wish’ is to get an autographed album of RDB.”

Was the ‘Mallika-e-husn’ hooked onto horror movies in real-life? “No way, I feel so petrified watching scare-fare flicks that I avoid them. Of course, I have seen a couple of them, and then I developed this horror-phobia,” admits the sultry ‘Jalebi-Bai’ song-danseuse who feels that the advent of ‘OTT’ platforms is a blessing. ‘Genuine art experimenting should never be censored and that creative freedom is possible only the digital OTT. This is why I am part of this ‘Boo…’ venture.

Also it was my secret dream to work with Ekta Kapoor,” asserts the articulate actress who is soon to start on her next movie tentatively titled ‘RK RK’ helmed by Rajat Kapoor, where I play a fictitious actress from the 1950s era, where everything goes wrong on a film set,” reveals Sherawat who having acted in ‘Booo..’ feels that ‘making audiences laugh, is so much more tougher than being coquettishly seductive on screen’      

 

Chaitanya Padukone is a Mumbai based Bollywood journalist who often writes exclusively for the Indian Weekender.