Mallika Sherawat is one of the few actress who doesn't shy away from making bold statements. Recently in a chat with an entertainment portal, the actress claimed that she lost Welcome Back to the director's girlfriend.
Mallika had starred alongside Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar in the 2007 film Welcome. However she was not a part of the sequel Welcome Back.
On being asked the reason behind this, the actress told Pinkvilla, "Welcome ka sequel banega toh director apni girlfriend ko hi dalega na usmein. Welcome 2 bana toh usmein apni girlfriend ko daal diya batao, ab main kya karun (If a sequel of Welcome is made, then the director will only cast his girlfriend. When Welcome 2 was made, he cast his girlfriend in the film. What do I do now)?" Without dropping out any names, Mallika continued, "But this is true. When they make a sequel they cast their girlfriend, the hero casts his girlfriend, what do I do then? I don't have any boyfriend in Bollywood, I have never been with any actor, director or producer. With me like this is my work, if you think I am worthy of your project I would love to be a part of it. But if a director or a producer or an actor - if they want to cast their girlfriends then it's their choice," before adding, "What should I do? That is the only reason I lost out (on Welcome Back)." Welcome Back which released in 2015 starred John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Shiney Ahuja, Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah and Ankita Shrivastava in pivotal roles. Coming back to Mallika, the actress will next be seen in Soumik Sen's web series Naqaab which also stars Esha Gupta and Gautam Rode.