Mallika to be honored by the City of Los Angeles

Aug 11, 2009 NR

Los Angeles, Aug.12 (NR): Bollywood bombshell Mallika Sherawat will be honored Friday, August 14 at 10am by the City of Los Angeles for her contributions to both the Hollywood film industry and numerous charities.

She is the first Bollywood film star to receive this recognition from the city, and will also be presented as an honorary citizen of Los Angeles by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor Richard Riordan, Councilmember Jose Huizar and the Los Angeles City Council. The ceremony, held the day before India's Independence Day, will take place at the City Hall Council Chambers, 200 N. Spring St., #340.

Sherawat set the Bollywood industry on fire with her role in 2004's biggest box office hit, Murder. She's set to make her Hollywood-backed debut alongside Slumdog Millionaire's Irrfan Khan in this fall's Hisss, and will soon begin production on her new film, in which she plays a character inspired in part by San Francisco Attorney General Kamala Harris, called "the female Barack Obama" by David Letterman, one of the Oprah Winfrey Show's "Most Powerful Women in America," and one of the New York Times' "most likely women to become the first female President of the United States."

She was recently invited to Twitter headquarters, where she was recognized for bringing awareness to the social networking site in India, and was featured in a Huffington Post article as being among the Bollywood elite who actively use the site to connect with fans and the reason behind why Twitter's popularity has skyrocketed in India.

Sherawat's a double threat, with both beauty and brains: She was voted one of Asia's 100 most beautiful people by the Hong Kong-based magazine Cover, and has repeatedly made the "Most Desirable" polls on AskMen.com and in Maxim. In addition to her work on the big screen, Sherawat, who holds a degree in philosophy, is an advocate for women's issues, the environment and nutrition.