This weekend on Talk Asia, Lorraine Hahn speaks with India’s Bollywood bombshell Mallika Sherawat, an actress best known amongst fans for her bold attitude, on-screen kisses and steamy scenes. Her latest role sees her alongside Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan in ‘The Myth’, a movie that boasts an international cast and was screened at the Cannes film festival earlier this year.

When asked about her role in the adventure epic, ‘The Myth’ and how she got her first international project, Mallika said, “Working with the most famous Chinese on this planet- Jackie Chan, and also, I was looking out for an international project and when I got a call from a production house in Bombay, saying that Stanley Tong, the director of the movie is in town, and we’re looking for a fresh face opposite Jackie Chan, would you mind auditioning, you know? So I was like, yes, I don’t mind auditioning at all. I went and I met him, there was a little audition, he asked me a couple of questions and then after a month they told me, yes, you’re on for the movie. It was, it’s a big challenge. It was because I had to do all the stunts on my own, I got bruised, I cried, I howled, I complained, I fought with Jackie but it all worked out beautifully in the end.”

Answering her critics about using sex appeal instead of talent to get to where she is now, she said, “Jackie Chan used his kung-fu skills to reach where he is, Arnold Schwarzenegger used his muscles to reach where he is. Every actor uses his or her own unique selling point to establish herself and if I used my sex appeal, what’s wrong in it?”

“I see criticism as a side-effect of what I do, what I’m really interested in is doing good cinema, sourcing good scripts, working with competitive and challenging directors with good co-stars… I’m not concerned with all these sexy images or what people say, what critics say. It’s not important to me at all,” she added.

The actress also talks about coming from Haryana – a town where women are treated as inferior; her brother – a pillar of strength for her in almost all her decisions; her childhood; relationship with her parents; and the secret behind her famous figure. Stay tuned to CNN’s Talk Asia this weekend for much more.

Talk Asia’s conversation with Mallika Sherawat is part of Eye On India, a special week of programming dedicated to the world’s biggest democracy.

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