We might not always pay attention to her, but much like family, she periodically shows up on your Facebook timeline. If there was ever an actor who could take a hit without ever acting in one, it’s Mallika Sherawat.
The newly released trailer of the Chinese film Time Raiders features Sherawat in the role of an evil sorceress. She looks mean enough to give crime master Gogo some serious competition. A fantasy film directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Daniel Lee, Time Raiders is based on the Chinese bestseller novel Daomu Biji. The trailer has a blink and miss appearance by Sherawat baring some sharp teeth (fake, we assume).
The actress has a knack for staying relevant, whether she is working in international productions, dancing with Antonio Banderas at Cannes or wishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “the most eligible bachelor in India”, happy birthday.
Sherawat first made her presence felt in Hindi cinema with Khwahish (2003), a steamy saga that made audiences hurriedly change channels or make awkward conversation. Sherawat was kissing on screen before it was de rigueur and before Emraan Hashmi.
After a few films, including Murder (2004), Sherawat jumped ship and hopped over to the Chinese film industry, where she bagged a role in The Myth (2005). Her appearance as the character Samantha alongside Jackie Chan suddenly made Indian audiences wonder whether they had dismissed her too soon.
Having displayed negligible acting chops, Sherawat emerged as the dusky, exotic Indian and, especially after playing a shape-shifting snake woman in Hisss (2010), the go-to Indian for all things weird. The Jennifer Lynch production cast Sherawat in the role of the mythical snake woman who can take on human form.
The American production Politics of Love (2011) had Sherawat in the lead role of a volunteer in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Her character, Anita Gupta, required her to don an American accent, which made her sound like a cross between Sofía Vergara and her normal self.
Sherawat’s last appearance on international screens – apart from the multiple ones at the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival – was in a Bruno Mars video for the song Whatta Man. She plays the sexy vixen to Mars’s James Bond in her trademark style.