But only recently, we heard news of her being cast in her second Hollywood film after Jackie Chan-starrer The Myth, this one’s inspired by the life of Jesus Christ.

And now comes the big news—Sherawat has been named one of the world’s sexiest women. An international men’s website has ranked her with Angelina Jolie, Shakira and Christina Aguilera. She’s placed even higher than Anna Kournikova. (And predictably on the list is Aishwarya Rai).

The list places her 67th but Sherawat is thrilled. “It’s exciting that black-haired Indian women have globally captured the imagination of men, whose previous fantasies only included blondes and brunettes. It feels great not just for myself but also because Indian women are making their mark in the West just like curry, samosas and chai did earlier,” she says. Then she adds, in her characteristic style: “Indian women are like Indian food—very spicy, very sweet and addictive. It’s about time the West got a good taste of us!”

The irony is that Sherawat’s popularity in her home country is waning. After Khwahish and Murder, she was noticed in Pyaar Ke Side Effects. But after that, her film appearances got restricted to mostly cameos and item numbers.

Sherawat defends: “I am using this period to read scripts and prepare for my next few starring roles. In the meantime, it was a period where I wanted to experiment a bit while nurturing my bank account, to try my hand at dance numbers not being the greatest dancer, and to do character roles like Paresh (Rawal) and Boman (Irani) do.”

The industry’s take on her is that her audacity is limited to how much skin she shows—not her acting talent. “I happen to be a movie star and not just an actress. That’s like being a wicketkeeper whose batting sometimes overshadows his work behind the stumps,” she explains. “But, yes, as far as my sex symbol image goes, there is a sense of deja vu. I do get the feeling I’ve been there and done that.”

Sherawat is also going to be seen opposite Kamal Hassan in Dasavatharam, the film releases on April 10 but the details of her role have been kept under wraps.