Mallika's onscreen debut was in Lak Tunoo, a music video by Surjit Bindrakhia. She attracted wide notice with her appearance in the 2003 movie Khwahish. In 2004, she starred in Murder, a film inspired by Hollywood's Unfaithful. She received a nomination for Best Actress at the Zee Cine Awards ceremony for her performance in Murder. The film went on to become one of the biggest hits of the year.[3]

Since then, Sherawat has been known for her courage to express her opinions in public,, as well as because of the reaction to some of her statements[4]

She also made news when she won a small role in a Jackie Chan movie, The Myth; she made a widely publicized appearance at the Cannes Film Festival to promote The Myth.

However, her performance in the 2006 film Pyaar Ke Side Effects co-starring Rahul Bose won her praise from around the industry,[5] and the film also garnered decent collections at the box office becoming a moderate success.[6]

She is now beginning to work in the Kollywood (Tamil) film industry as well after her item number in a Kannada film. She will appear in Dasavatharam starring Kamal Haasan, Asin, and Jayapradha.

Her first 2007 release was Himesh Reshammiya's Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, where she played a "vampish role".[7] Mallika herself has protested, saying that it is a negative role but not a vamp role.[7] With Aap Ka Suroor she has become the most expensive "Item Girl",[8] as she charged Rs. 1.5 crore[8] for her Item number in the movie. Aap Ka Suroor did well at the box office. Her last release of 2007 was Welcome which also did well at the box office receiving blockbuster status.[9]

Sherawat has been voted as one of Asia's 100 most beautiful people by the Hong Kong based fashion and beauty magazine, Cover