Mallika Sherawat Shares How She Was Shamed By A News Anchor On TV For This Murder Song; ‘I Told Him…’

Mallika Sherawat recalled an incident where a news anchor shamed her on national television for her bold portrayal in Murder.

Mallika Sherawat became a sensation with her bold role in Anurag Basu’s 2004 erotic thriller Murder. Co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Ashmit Patel, the film despite mixed reviews, was a commercial success at the box office.

While Mallika became the talk of the town for pulling off something that most heroines back then shied away from taking up, the actress had to face severe judgement post the release of Murder.

Recently in a podcast with Ranveer Allahbadia, the ‘Welcome’ actress recalled the backlash she received for Murder. While talking about the popular ‘Bheege Honth’ song by Kunal Ganjawala, the actress narrated how the song despite being beautiful, created an uproar for its lyrics.

Mallika revealed, “Do you know the song created such a ‘bawaal (uproar)’ when it released? The lyrics of this song, how much I was shamed because of it.”

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She continued, “I went to a news channel with [Mahesh] Bhatt saab during Murder, the name of which I don’t remember. There was this news anchor who started reciting the lyrics of the song to me. He focused on certain words like ‘pyaar’, and he asks me, this journalist, ‘Aapko sharam nahi aayi?’ (Didn’t you feel ashamed)?’ Directly! I told him, ‘Nahi mujhe nahi aayi! Mujhe mazaa aaya (No, I didn’t feel ashamed. In fact, I had a blast)!’ He was shocked at how a girl could speak to him like that. I was very open about it. I said, ‘We have used erotica for box office.’ What is box office? It is a stimulation right? Imagine the impact that this film has had.”

While speaking about the societal expectations placed on women in the society, Mallika opined, “Women are controlled through shame. It serves the patriarchal culture to control women through shame. But I feel now, it’s becoming less. Women are becoming more open. As compared to 2004, definitely.”

The actress recalled people burning her effigies after Murder and added that the society at that time wasn’t prepared for either her or that film. Further, Mallika also shared how many of her contemporary female actors were ‘condescending’ to her face back then when she made those fearless choices.

Mallika recently starred in a supporting role in Rajkummar Rao-Triptii Dimri’s Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video.