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| Mallika Sherawat Sinks Her Teeth into Snake Role | | By PREETI CHANDAN | | | indiawest.com | March 19, 2009 03:54:00 PM |
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LOS ANGELES — Wearing restricting bodysuits and elaborate make-up for hours during the shoot to transform into a “nagin” was an ordeal, but Bollywood star Mallika Sherawat said she found the overall experience exhilarating.
Sherawat plays a vendetta-seeking female snake able to take on human form in her next release, “Hisss,” the first Bollywood movie to be made by a Hollywood director, Sherawat told India-West.
 The modern-day retelling of the ancient legend of the “ichhadahari nagin” is directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of the famed cult director David Lynch. Jennifer Lynch’s directorial debut was in 1993 with the thriller “Boxing Helena.” Her second film, “Surveillance,” also a thriller, is scheduled for a June release.
Sherawat was in Southern California to complete the post-production of “Hiss  s,” slated to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
For the glamorous Sherawat, known as Bollywood’s sex-symbol, appearing as a serpent on screen is a gutsy move.
“I have always taken risks, done unconventional things,” she said. “This role too is very unusual — my get-up is something never before seen in Bollywood movies. I have to express emotions through my eyes as I don’t have any dialogues,” she told India-West Mar. 10 in an interview at a casual coffee shop near Torrance, Calif.
Relaxed and enjoying the glorious Southern California weather, Sherawat — her hair in bouncy curls, and dressed in dark, tightly fitting trousers, a belted, thigh-length coat and a plaid scarf — talked enthusiastically about her upcoming movie.
“The story of the nagin is a popular legend in many eastern countries. ‘Hisss’ will bring that myth to the West,” she said. It also offers a different perspective to a Western audience because in India, snakes are worshipped — while in the West they are portrayed as monsters, in such movies as “Anaconda,” she added.
Director Lynch describes the East-West production as a “love story-action-comedy-musical-creature feature.”
The story of “Hisss” follows a ruthless American who, fascinated by the ancient folklore of the nagin, travels to India to find out the truth. In the jungles of India, he captures the mate of the nagin for the magical powers of its nagmani, a mythical gem embedded in its hood. The nagin transforms into a femme fatale and comes to the modern world to track down her lover. She wreaks revenge on those who stand in the way of their reunion and also on her mate’s captors. Her desperate search and subsequent quest for revenge results in a breakneck chase with a trail of bodies and narrow escapes.
The movie also stars Irrfan Khan of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame in a prominent role and Jeff Doucette of the TV series “Desperate Housewives.” The Hindi-English movie has background songs scored by Anu Malik.
Working with Sherawat shattered director Lynch’s preconceptions based on her media image. “Mallika is beautiful, and has a magnetic personality, but no one told me what incredible intelligence and kindness she possessed,” Lynch told India-West on the phone.
Lynch said that in Sherawat’s portrayal of the nagin, “Mallika has brought out that vulnerability and instinctual power of animals that also makes them strangely human.”
Lynch just couldn’t see a nagin develop language skills overnight. So Sherawat doesn’t speak in the movie. “It is easier when you have dialogues — it gives you somewhere to put your energy in … find strength in,” said the filmmaker. “But for this role, Mallika had to learn to express through her eyes. It is difficult to give a different look for every emotion, but I asked that of her. She understood what I wanted, and delivered.”
Robert Kurtzman (“Evil Dead,” “Friday the 13th”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”), the Hollywood genius of prosthetic make-up and visual effects, has given Sherawat the scaly, reptilian look and created her transformation.
For Sherawat, shooting those scenes was the hardest part. She had to don eight bodysuits in succession to create the transformation from serpent to woman and vice versa. The body suits were made of a clingy material that severely restricted her movements. She had to be carried to and from the sets. She couldn’t use the restroom for hours, and her detailed prosthetic make-up took up to five hours to put on.
“It was incredibly trying, but Mallika was a good sport,” Lynch said.
Sherawat said “Hisss” is nothing like the nagin movies previously made in Bollywood. “Its treatment is that of a thriller, more like ‘Silence of the Lambs,’” she told India-West.
The movie has generated interest among fans of the Dread Central Web site and the legendary genre magazine Fangoria, both devoted to horror movies. Sherawat will attend a Fangoria convention in Los Angeles next month, she said.
Sherawat is also here to scope out her prospects in Hollywood. Los Angeles-based Rigberg Entertainment is her manager here. She has also hired a publicist, and she said she is reviewing offers from mainstream Hollywood as well as independent filmmakers.
“Word gets around that I am acting in Jennifer Lynch’s movie. Besides, ‘Slumdog’ has opened a lot of gates for actresses like me who want to make it in Hollywood,” she said. “The world’s best roles and best directed movies come out of here.”
Sherawat said she wants to interact with Indians living here. “The whole NRI culture is so diverse and rich. I want them to support me,” she said.
“Hisss” is Sherawat’s second international film. She played a small role in the 2005 Jackie Chan starrer “The Myth,” and she went with him to the Cannes and Toronto film festivals to promote the movie. “Jackie says he believes in me. (Hopefully) we will work together again,” she said.
Sherawat’s few good performances are overshadowed by her numerous titillating roles and item numbers such as “Maiya maiya” (“Guru) and “Mehbooba” (“Aap ka Suroor).
She said it’s fun to be dubbed a sex-symbol, and being compared to Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, but otherwise, she shrugged it off as a “side-effect of show business.”
“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” she said. Working with good directors and playing strong characters is what interests her.
“I’ve never done four-songs-two-scenes roles,” she said and cited the 2004 “Murder” and the 2006 “Pyar ke Side Effects” as her strongest performances.
Her role in “Murder,” a gripping tale of betrayal and redemption, is considered one of the strongest written for a woman protagonist in recent times. She surprised many by her sensual yet sensitive portrayal of a lonely housewife turned wanton adulteress and received rave reviews. “Murder” was one of the biggest hits of that year. Her performance in “Pyar…,” too, won her praise.
“Mallika is being promoted only as a beautiful woman but there is much more to her. I hope she gets roles that show her talent and humanity alongside her beauty,” director Lynch said. |
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| | India On Mar 20 2009 6:59PM |  |
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