She’s an internationally acclaimed Bollywood actress who has no intention of forsaking her native country. But Mallika Sherawat is not about to sugarcoat any realities either.
Sherawat proved just that during a press conference in October and the footage is first now going viral. While promoting "Bachelorette India," Sherawat was confronted by a female journalist who questioned why the star would search for “true love” at home, if she had publicly declared the country “regressive and depressing.”
Not one to contain her feelings, Sherawat launched her spot-on impassioned response by urging the reporter to "do your homework."
The journalist, according to Sherawat, had taken the quote out of context.
She was referring to a Variety interview from May, during which Sherawat discussed her role in “Dirty Politics” and how splitting her time between the U.S. and India has helped shape her world view.
“I made a conscious decision to divide my time between Los Angeles, America and India,” the actress told Variety. “So now when I’ve experienced that social freedom, when I go back to India, which is so regressive for women, it’s depressing. As an independent women, it’s really depressing.”
Sherawat impressed that she was specifically talking about the state of affairs for women when she called India regressive.
She then drove home her point by mentioning the rampant cases of female feticide, infanticide, gang rapes, honor killings and the fact that 40 percent of Indian women are married below the age of 18.
And when the reporter suggested that Sherawat should watch what she says because she's painting India in a poor light, she didn’t balk.
“As a woman, I should lie about the state of women that’s in our country?” Sherawat responded. “So I didn’t lie. I said the truth.”
Bravo, Mallika.
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