People used to look down upon me: Mallika Sherawat

Actress Mallika Sherawat has come a long way since her 17 smooches in Khwaaish, or so she insists. Looking back, the sexy actor says that it hasn't been a cake walk for her in Bollywood but is hoping that things have changed now.

Speaking about her dark days, she says, "It was really tough for me when I started out. People used to look down upon me, because I was this girl who had kissed so many times on screen. But things have changed now — our cinema has changed, though I'm yet to see some concrete women empowerment take shape in our industry," says Sherawat.

Given that Sherawat has worked in Holly land and brushed shoulders with the who's who from the industry at international events, one can't help but ask her as to how Indian actors are perceived in Hollywood.

"Indian actors are looked upon as an exotic species in Hollywood. But one has to give credit to actors like Aishwarya Rai for paving the way. And Freida Pinto, I think, has changed the game altogether. Post-Slumdog Millionaire, Indian actors are looked upon with a lot of respect and curiosity," she explains.

In her new movie, Sherawat is seen as a woman working for President Obama's presidential campaign and "unfortunately" ends up falling in love with a man from the opposing party.

Ask her if will she consider joining politics in the future and Sherawat laughs out loud. "With such corruption around, I'll have to jump into the fire pit! Anyway my constant struggle is to find good roles… let me succeed there first," she says carefully measuring her words.

Quiz Sherawat about her recent trip to an awards function in Toronto, where she was accused of promoting her upcoming Politics of Love as opposed to her Bollywood film Double Dhamaal and the actress brushes it aside as just idle gossip.

"It was the awards organisers who invited (Hollywood actor, co-star in Politics of Love) Brian White to attend their ceremony. I wanted to show Brian what Bollywood was all about and let me tell you — he was thrilled. He said he hadn't seen anything like that before. The Double Dhamaal team didn't have problem with it, so I really don't know how these rumours started," she shoots back, clearly not too pleased with the 'tantrum queen' tag that she's been given.

People used to look down upon me: Mallika Sherawat

^ & after the boob job, their eyes do the up and down exercise 🤪