After a long hiatus from Hindi films, gutsy actor Mallika Sherawat will be seen in RK/RKay, a nostalgic take on Bollywood movies from the 1960s. To jog dormant memories, Sherawat made a splashy debut in 2003 with Khwaish that stirred up plenty of righteous indignation for its 17 passionate kisses onscreen. Admiringly referred to by The New York Times as Bollywood’s Brigitte Bardot, Sherawat’s next film Murder was her piece de resistance, an enjoyable thriller far ahead of its time in its portrayal of a sexually aggressive woman. The fact that it was a huge hit should have been enough to catapult Sherawat to A-list status. Instead, she was ridiculed by the media and her contemporaries for playing a free spirit who takes charge of her own destiny.
Reflecting on the unwarranted vitriol she faced that sidetracked her career, Sherawat matter-of-factly told journalists while promoting RK/Rkay, “What Deepika Padukone did in Gehraiyaan, I did 15 years ago but people were too narrow minded to appreciate it.” (Gehraiyaan revolves around an illicit affair and has many steamy scenes featuring Padukone.) Now that we are exposed to a gazillion OTT shows that unapologetically push the boundaries of what is permissible, on a rewatch of Murder, Sherawat’s so-called torrid scenes feel vaguely tepid. For anyone worried that it often feels that India is regressing back into the dark ages, at least the designated “fast girl” of yesteryears, of which Sherawat was deemed a torchbearer, has been laid to rest. One can only ponder the randomness of fate, that a pathbreaking, female-centric role could so negatively brand a woman brave enough to break with conformity — while cementing another’s position as numero uno in a similar act, less than two decades later.
That’s life. Success owes a lot to timing and luck, especially in a chaotic country where the disruptive forces of society wield significant power. Ask directors Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who have had harrowing experiences with the Hindu fringe, who, at the slightest provocation, threaten to pelt stones at movie goers on opening Fridays. Then, there’s the equally deadly threat of skewed social media narratives that can destroy reputations: for example, Rhea Chakraborty faces an uphill task salvaging her career after being implicated in the death of her boyfriend. As an act of self-preservation, I rarely log on to Twitter having figured out that whether people praise or berate me, it has no bearing on my life. Recently I had to and saw the shocking level of venom directed towards all women professionals, be it lawyers, journalists or academics.
It makes one wonder whether a little bit of censorship is necessarily a bad thing; maybe a time will come when companies will hold employees responsible for posting misogynistic and racist opinions in the public domain, the same way people have been sacked in France for holding anti-Semitic views. Undoubtedly, the dice is far heavily stacked against women in showbiz. Amid the barrage of opinion, it’s easy to miss that actors like Sherawat have been trailblazing risk-takers. It must have been hard being the butt of lurid jokes or reading articles where women from established film families would superciliously say they would never act in a Murder. As though anybody working in the Hindi film industry would choose artistic greatness over commercial success.
Ultimately, Sherawat’s instincts were right to take on an unconventionally bold role — the best chance any of us have at success is to seize opportunities available to us at a given time. Over a long career, we also have to philosophically accept that some of our decisions will go awry. For some reason, failure lingers a lot longer in our heads than success. Murder subjected Sherawat to scathing attack; but doors opened up for her in Hollywood, she became famous but most importantly, she became rich. The website http://www.caknowledge.com lists Sherawat’s net worth at Rs 113 crore. Pretty damn good for an outsider, vilified for the fictional role of a cheating wife. Truly, success is the best revenge.
The writer is director, Hutkay Films
