Even if Bollywood is now more recognized in all parts of the world, Indian movie stars are still not household names in North America. After the Hong Kong movie craze some years back, stars like Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh became common knowledge but, besides from the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai, can any average movie fan name any celebrities from India, which is still in the top three countries that produces films? So I’m introducing you to Mallika Sherawat, Bollywood’s Kissing Queen and main sex-symbol.

Interestingly, some sources reveals her birthday as October 24, 1981, but some others 1976, so there’s already a mystery. Her real name is Reema Lamba. She used to work as an air hostess, was even married to a pilot at some point, but her career really started after appearing in music videos. Her film debut was in 2003’s Khwahish, soon considered to be quite racy for India’s standards (17 kisses in all!). Later, she starred in a version of Hollywood’s Unfaithful, Murder, that again was perceived as too saucy coming from the industry. Of course, Indian films cannot show nudity or lewd content, but supposedly these productions were considered immoral by many. Needless to say, they were big box-office hits. People actually wanted her to be arrested following some New Year’s Eve party, claiming her dress code was too scandalous!

Mallika is being known for speaking her mind and not being afraid of dressing up sexy. Playboy offered her a photo shoot and promises of a cover (to have been a first for a woman from India), but she declined, knowing all too well that this would have caused her blacklist from Bollywood.

In 2005, she had a small part in Jackie Chan’s The Myth as (what else?) an Indian princess and made quite an impression at the Cannes premiere. Let’s also note that her religious family doesn’t seem quite pleased with her career choices. But through all this, a real talent has emerged, as Mallika is an accomplished actress, even with sexy roles, as Pyaar Ke Side Effects in 2006 proved. The Tamil movie industry has welcomed her (known as Kollywood) and is it only a matter of time before an English-speaking film debut? But her critics called her out for asking outrageous sums of money to appear in any project…

With her beauty sometimes compared to Halle Berry’s, Mallika Sherawat is to watch out for!