Mallika Sherawat once opened up about the challenges she faced in Bollywood due to her bold on-screen image and the video is going viral on Reddit. She shared that because of the daring roles she portrayed in films, many top actors assumed she would be willing to compromise with them off-screen as well. They would call her at night, implying that her boldness on-screen should translate into her personal life, expecting her to meet them.
Mallika rejected these advances, making it clear that she wasn’t the type to compromise her values. She candidly admitted that her refusal to comply with these inappropriate expectations led to her being sidelined in the industry. Her roles began to dry up because she wasn’t willing to play along with the power dynamics that some actors expected.
She said, “Some heroes would call me and say ‘come and see me at night’. Aur main phone pe kehti thi, ‘Why should I come and see you at night? For what?’ They would say, ‘Aree tum itne bold roles kar leti ho screen pe, toh mere ko raat ko milne mein kya problem hai?’ The heroes were taking this kind of liberties with me. They were thinking ke jab yeh parde pe itne bold scenes karti hai, toh humare saath bhi bold ho sakti hai, humare saath bhi toh compromise kar sakti hai.
I am not like that.” Mallika was last seen in RK/RKay, which released in 2022. She took a five-year break before that.
She shot to fame with Murder opposite Emraan Hashmi. Besides Bollywood, she has also worked in.