MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Mallika Sherawat has landed a role in Bill Bannerman’s next film titled Unveiled.
Bannerman is Clint Eastwood’s assistant director and second unit director. He was honoured by the Director’s Guild of America for best AD for Unforgiven (which also went on to win Oscars for best director and Best Film).
About casting Mallika, Bannerman said, “I was impressed by Mallika’s acting prowess in Murder and knew by instinct that she will be able to do justice to the role perfectly.”
Describing the film he says, “Unveiled is a film about a Muslim woman who has two husbands and a lover. It is a twisted film noir/ sexy thriller/dark drama. And the first Hollywood film to feature a female muslim protagonist.”
Bannerman wanted the actress to be a South Asian or from the Middle East who’ll understand the character of a Muslim woman from the Middle East and lend a degree of authenticity in terms of accent, body language, knowledge of customs, etc.
Regarding Mallika’s character he said, “Behind the dark burkha, there lies a sexy, manipulative victim, who’s dangerous as well as in grave danger.”
Sherawat added, “It is a fantastic story – part thriller, part psychological drama, part film noir. It was so fast paced and exciting and so well written, I couldn’t put it down for a second. And the icing on the cake was that it is a story from the point of view of a woman; a woman who has relationships with three men from different continents, and who goes from an ultra-traditional Muslim environment to an ultra-liberal Western one. This is a script I could never say no to.”
Sherawat has earlier also made an appearance in Jackie Chan’s Myth.
