Mallika
Sherawat was born Reema Lamba on October 24, 1976 and is an Indian actress who
works in Hindi, English and Chinese language films. Known for her bold onscreen
attitude in films like Khwahish (2003) and Murder (2004), Sherawat has
established herself as a sex symbol and as one of the most popular celebrities
in Bollywood. She then appeared in successful romantic comedy Pyaar Ke Side
Effects (2006) which won her much critical acclaim. Since then, she has
appeared in successes like Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, Welcome (both
2007) — her biggest commercial success so far — and Double Dhamaal (2011). She
is one of the few Bollywood stars trying to crossover to Hollywood, with films
like Hisss (2010) and Politics of Love (2011).
Sherawat
was born Reema Lamba in Moth, a small village in Hisar district of Haryana to a
Jat family. Mallika's father is named Mukesh Kumar Lamba and she was born
in the family of Seth Chhaju Ram, a leading Jat philanthropist. She was
born on 24 October 1976. She adopted the screen name of "Mallika",
meaning "empress", to avoid confusion with other actresses named
Reema. "Sherawat" is her mother's maiden name She has stated
that she uses her mother's maiden name because of the support that her mother
has provided her. Although relations with her family were strained when she
entered the film industry, Sherawat's family have now accepted her career
choice and they and Sherawat are reconciled.
Sherawat
went to school at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. She has a degree in
philosophy from Miranda House, Delhi University. During the initial days of
her career, she claimed to be from a very conservative small-town family and
that she faced many hurdles from them in pursuing her career. However,
Sherawat's family has rebutted this as a story created by her to give her an
aura of a rustic girl who made it big in Bollywood. Before entering films,
Sherawat appeared in television commercials with Amitabh Bachchan for BPL and
Shahrukh Khan for Santro. She also appeared in Nirmal Pandey's "Maar
Dala" and Surjit Bindrakhia's "Lak Tunoo" music video. She
debuted in films with a small rôle in Jeena Sirf Merre Liye where she was
credited as Reema Lamba. Sherawat attracted notice with her appearance in the
2003 film, Khwahish. In 2004, she starred in Murder, a film inspired by
Hollywood's Unfaithful. She was noticed for her bold role with critic Narbir
Gosal writing, "she has the chops to pull off a role like this one. She´s
confident and sexy as Simran and handles her emotional scenes with
dignity. She received a nomination for 'Best Actress' at the Zee Cine
Awards for her performance in Murder. The film went on to become one of the
biggest hits of the year. Since then, Sherawat has been known for expressing
her opinions in public, as well for the reaction to some of her statements.
In
2005, Sherawat acted in The Myth, a Chinese film, co-starring with Jackie Chan.
She played the role of an Indian girl who saves Chan's character from a river.
The Myth was her first international film. Her appearance at the Cannes Film
Festival to promote the film secured a lot of attention, with Time
magazine's Richard Corliss calling her "the next big thing." Her
performance in the 2006 film Pyaar Ke Side Effects, co-starring Rahul Bose, won
her praise from around the industry, with critic Raja Sen commenting,
"Mallika steals the show with her disarming candour." and the film
did moderately well at the box office. Her first release in 2007 was Mani
Ratnam's Guru, in which she performed the song "Mayya Mayya." She
played a guest role in Himesh Reshammiya's Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story
and reportedly charged Rs. 15 million for a 10-minute appearance. Her last
release of 2007 was Welcome, which did exceptionally well at the box office.
Her performance received very favourable reviews with noted film critic Taran
Adarsh writing, "Mallika Sherawat is electrifying." Her
2008 releases were Ugly Aur Pagli and Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam. Both were
unsuccessful at the box office. Sherawat's next Bollywood release was Double
Dhamaal, which went on to becoming a moderate success at the box office,
receiving 'above average' status at the box office, by Box Office India. She
also appeared in item numbers in films such as Thank You (Razia Gundon Mein
Phas Gayi), Bin Bulaye Baraati (Shalu Ke Thumkey) and in Osthe (Kalasala),
which is a Tamil film. In 2012, she was featured in an item number in Tezz
(Laila). As of May 2012, Sherawat was expected to appear in two films which
will feature her in full-fledged roles — Kismat Love Paisa Dilli, in which she
will be playing the role of a Haryanvi, and Lucky Unlucky. On 23 April 2013
it was announced that Mallika would star in a reality dating show called
Bachelorette India - Mere Khayalon ki Mallika.
In
2009, Sherawat starred in a Hollywood film named Hisss, co-starring Irrfan Khan
and directed by Jennifer Lynch. The story, based on the legend of Nāga, is an independent co-production between the United States
and India. Endeavour Independent bought the distribution rights of
Hisss.[35] Sherawat promoted it with live snakes at the Cannes Film Festival
2010. Hisss was released in all major Indian languages on 22 October 2010. Sherawat
starred in another Hollywood film, Politics of Love, aka Love, Barack, directed
by William Dear. She plays Aretha Gupta, a devoted local Obama volunteer
coordinator. The film is a romantic comedy set during Barack Obama's campaign
for the US presidency. A first look of Love, Barack was unveiled by Sherawat at
Cannes 2010. It was released in 2011. Sherawat won the 2008 Renaissance Artist
Award at the 16th Annual Diversity Awards held in California.[40] On 14 August
2009, Sherawat received honorary citizenship of Los Angeles in recognition of
her career achievements and charitable work. In 2012 Sherawat featured with
American pop star Bruno Mars in his parody video of Salt-N-Pepa Whatta Man for
the comedy website Funny or Die. In 2013 Sherawat featured in a reality television
show named The Bachelorette India which was adopted from The Bachelorette to
find the perfect bachelor for herself. Also she has received many awards and
nominations for her acting performance.