During an appearance on The Love Laugh Live Show, Mallika said that she refused to shoot for such a song but added that she found it ‘funny and original’.
Once, a producer came to her with the idea for a song sequence, Mallika said. “In his warped thinking, he was like, ‘Bada hot song hai. Audience ko kaise pata chalega ki aap hot hai? Aap itni hot hai ki aapki kamar pe main chapati sekh sakta hoon (It’s a very hot song. How will the audience know you are hot? You are so hot that one can heat chapatis on your waist).’ Some weird notion like that. Have you ever heard of anything like that?” she asked.
“I put my foot down. I said, ‘No, we are not doing any such thing.’ But I thought it was very funny and original. It’s an original idea,” she added.
Mallika said that she does not understand what is considered hot in India; in fact, she finds it weird. “I think they have a really weird perception of hotness in India for women. I don’t understand it. Of course, it’s better now but when I started my career, it was weird,” she said.
Mallika, who appeared in films such as Khwahish and Murder, became known as a sex symbol. In previous interviews, she said that she was judged for her bold onscreen persona and male co-stars tried to take liberties with her.
Mallika was most recently seen in the MX Player series Nakaab, alongside Esha Gupta and Gautam Rode. The show revolved around the high-profile death of a celebrity.