Mallika Sherawat wrestles for a part in Dangal

She turned up in a completely deglam avatar to audition for his wife's role.

Mirror (April 22) was the first to report that after weeks of auditions Aamir Khan's wrestler daughters in his upcoming film, Dangal, had finally been cast. Fatima Shaikh, a Mumbai girl who has acted in a few films and a TV serial, along with a trained ballet dancer from Delhi, Sanya Malhotra, will play Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumar in the sports biopic to be helmed by Nitesh Tiwari.

Now, Mirror has learnt that a couple of weeks ago, Mallika Sherawat auditioned for casting director Mukesh Chabbra. No, she wasn't vying to play either of the 'betis'. Madam M was game to play their 'ma' and Aamir Khan's better half.

A source revealed that Mallika turned up for the audition loking ciompleteky deglamrised and almost unrecognisable in a simple salwar kameez. "She had no make-up and rattled off the pages of dialogue she knew by heart in shudh Haryanvi. The Jat accent that might stump other actresses, comes naturally to her since she's from the state," said the source.

The actress was born Reema Lamba in Moth, a small village in the Hissar district of Haryana, to a Jat family and adopted her mother's maiden surname and the name Mallika when she entered Bollywood. She gave a fine performance on camera but will have to wait a while to know if she will be a part of the project.

"The makers want to cast the four girls first (they are still scouting for younger versions of Fatima and Sanya to play Geeta and Babita when they are around 10-12 years old and started going for wrestling competitions) before they decide on the mother since they have a great resemblance to her," pointed out the source.

So, while the search goes on, the 'empress' who was last seen as an aspiring politician in KC Bokadia's Dirty Politics, patiently waits to see if she will enter Tiwari's wrestling ring.

Dangal is inspired by the story of former wrestler Mahavir Singh, from Haryana's Balali village, who built an 'akhara' in his own house and coached his daughters to historic wins. Geeta Phogat was India's first female wrestler to win gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. abita Kumari, bagged the silver. They became role models in the conservative Jat community and their mother was elevated to the status of village head.