Mallika Sherawat, Bollywood’s beautiful Twitter Queen – Part 1

 

Mallika Sherawat, the hottest actress in Bollywood to hit the US is also responsible for many desis taking to Twitter. She was the first major Bollywood actress to start tweeting. One of my first questions to her was how she got into tweeting. She explained that when she came to LA for the post-production of her new film “Hisss”, she started missing India and then the producers said Twitter would be good, not only to keep in touch, but also to tweet about the film! She says enthusiastically, “And then the most amazing thing happened– whereas before it was hard to interact with my fans in big crowds, through Twitter I actually get to know alot of them. And Twitter is great fun, I can be as sassy as I want to be and it’s also become a creative outlet”.

She got even more into Twitter when she became the first first star from Asia to be invited to the Twitter Headquarters. And what did she do there ? Why – she taught Twitter to CEO Evan Williams, Biz Stone, engineer Pankaj Gupta, and other employees how to do Bollywood dance moves on their lunch break!

 

There has been a lot of buzz about Mallika’s latest movie. An international Indian production, written and directed by Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch’s daughter, and director of Boxing Helena, Hisss is a classic Hollywood-style horror film. Mallika , clearly excited about her new movie said, “besides being a horror, thriller, revenge drama and love story, it’s also our industry’s first female-empowerment superhero goddess movie (smiling). Slumdog Millionaire may have tore the lid off East-West film projects, but Hisss is gonna open up a whole new can of worms and make people’s eyes pop out!” She is beautiful, smart and funny!

In the fall I shoot a romantic “dramedy” set in the crazy world of American politics where I play a character inspired in-part by San Fran Attorney General Kamala Harris, who some call the “female Barack Obama” and say she could become the first female President of the US! I’m under a confidentiality agreement at the moment and not allowed to say more, but I can say that the soundtrack is gonna be really special, done by a major hip-hop producer that’s making a whole new sound– American hip-hop meets Indian beats and instruments! I’ve started taking hip-hop dance classes to get in the groove for this film:)

Hmm, I have been following her on Twitter, and my best guess is that she is talking about Russell Simmons. He met her recently and had this to say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also posted a candid picture of Mallika on Twitter later:

 

From: Russell Simmons Twit Pic

On her other US projects, Mallika says that her friend Jesse Dylan (Jesse is Bob Dylan’s son and director of “Kicking and Screaming” with Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall, “American Wedding”, and “How High”) is developing a project for her, specifically for the US market.

On her experience in Hollywood, Mallika says, “I’m definitely having the time of my life in Hollywood. I’ve been very lucky to meet alot of great people, and grateful to get the Diversity award this past year (the same one Salma Hayek got– I love her!), and be the first Bollywood star to have a milkshake named after her in Hollywood!, and the first star from Asia invited to the Twitter offices (awesome!), but the biggie, which really blew me away– they say I made Hollywood history for being the first Bollywood star to be officially recognized by the City of Los Angeles with a Resolution in my name! It was one of the most incredible days of my life so far, I’m still light-headed from that one”.

We end Part 1 of the interview with Mallika’s beginnings. I asked her how she got her first big break and what have been the highlights since then.

She told me, “Govind Menon, who was the first Indian filmmaker educated at a U.S. film school (U.T. Austin during the Robert Rodriguez years;) was making a film called “Kwahish” (Desire) and auditioned 300 girls. He joked later that he gave me the lead part because I spoke the best Hindi! That was the film they say broke new ground because there were a few more kisses than in any Bollywood film before that. (Kissing until recently was taboo in Indian films). So of course for awhile I got the name, the Bollywood “Kissing Queen”. And now everyone’s kissing in Bollywood! I guess in a way that also means I helped bring more *love* into Bollywood, and I’m okay with that:) After that the thriller “Murder” I did was the biggest hit of that year, and that’s when my life changed forever. I now have to wear a full length burkha in India and other parts of the world because otherwise it gets a little crazy with the crowds. But the biggest break so far as an international actress was Jackie Chan’s “The Myth” because I was the first Indian actress to co-star with him. That opened up a whole new world. And now “Hisss” is a huge break for me in alot of ways. It’s already the most highly anticipated film in Asia, and it’s an early favorite with the horror/thriller genre crowd in the West. It’s definitely gonna make an impression, I can guarantee that:)

We end with one of her most famous dance sequences from the movie “Guru”.  Enjoy!

 

Note: On Sept 20th, the IFC channel is playing one of her last big hits, “Pyar Ke Side Effects” (The Side Effects of Love). Mallika “dares our readers to watch it”!.

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