My directors, co-stars thought I was easy due to my film choices: Mallika Sherawat

The actor believes she more than paid a price for her sensual scenes

Bollywood actor Mallika Sherawat was probably one of the first Bollywood starlets to take on sensual scenes on-screen. However, according to her, she more than paid a price for her film choices. The Dirty Politics actor stated that people, including directors and co-stars, thought she would easily “compromise” just because she was okay with steamy roles, reported Hindustan Times

Sherawat, who shot to fame with 2001's Murder, became synonymous with everything bold on the big screen and this image made it easy for others to judge her and comment on her character, she says.

PHOTO: REUTERS

In a recent interview, the 41-year-old actor stated, “There were so many accusations and judgements on me. If you wear short skirts or kiss on-screen, you’re apparently a fallen woman with no morals. Men tend to take liberties with you and this happened with me too."

Sherawat continued, “I was thrown out of projects because heroes would say, ‘Why can’t you be intimate with me? You can do it on-screen, what’s the problem in doing that with me in private?’ I’ve lost so many projects. It’s very reflective of our society and what women deal with in our country.”

PHOTO: AFP

The Hisss star also said that she was aware her film choices were unconventional and believes she could have done much better. “I’m a very headstrong woman, I can’t compromise. I’ve a lot of pride and self respect. There were times when directors have called me and said ‘come to me at 3 am'."

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She added, "I was so scared to talk about it because I thought they are going to blame me, that I must’ve behaved in such a way that prompted the director to say this. There is that victim blaming mentality which exists in our society and I always felt scared to talk about these things.”

PHOTO: PTI

Sherawat shared that when people judged her, it would make her very insecure, self-critical and unsure of everything she did. "It’s not a healthy space. At that time, a large section of the media was antagonistic towards me. They were always interested in sensationalism, which hurt me."

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