Mallika Sherawat claims she has never worked with Bollywood celebrities because they want her to ‘compromise’: ‘Male performers began to take risks.’

Mallika Sherawat revealed that she missed out on a lot of possibilities in the film industry because the big names insisted on “compromise.”

Mallika Sherawat, a Bollywood actor who rose to prominence in the early 2000s, was noted for taking on unconventional parts in Hindi films. Mallika said in a recent interview that, despite her popularity at the time, she never worked with a major Bollywood star because they wanted her to compromise.

“The only reason I haven’t gotten more parts is because I refused to give in to male actors, huge stars who wanted me to do certain things or compromise. You know I’m from Haryana, therefore I have a lot of pride and self-respect. I stated that I will not make any concessions. I don’t need to be in your huge movies, which is why I’ve never worked with an A-lister male lead, and I’ve survived, which is a testament in itself,” she told Pinkvilla.

Mallika made news with her 2003 film Khwahish, and she became a household celebrity with her 2004 flick Murder.

In the interview, Mallika claimed that she has never faced the casting couch “directly.” “I haven’t dealt with it personally… My ascension to prominence was a stroke of luck, and it was quite painless. When I arrived in Mumbai, I was met by Khwahish and Murder. I didn’t have to put up much of a fight. But after the movies, since Murder was such a big film and that kind of aggressive image was formed, a lot of male actors began to take a lot of risks with me, and they said, if you can be brave onscreen, you can be bold with us in person as well,” she explained.

She went on to say that major stars would never work with her because they couldn’t tell the difference between on-screen and off-screen personas. “They didn’t distinguish between onscreen and offscreen personas, so that’s where I ran into a lot of problems, because I’m a very strong woman, and I’d tell the male actor, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to compromise.’ I didn’t come to Bollywood to make compromises; I came to make a living. That’s why they’ve never done business with me,” she explained.

Mallika went on to star in films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects, Welcome, and Ugly Aur Pagli. She appeared in the MXPlayer online series Nakaab lately.