Mallika Sherawat is having a moment all over again. Her “sharp tongue and don’t-give-a-damn energy” on Traitors Season 2 have made her one of the most talked-about faces on the show, and viewers can’t seem to get enough of her. Clearly she is enjoying a dream of“comeback”.But behind the fearless, no-filter star fans see today lies a chapter she rarely talks about, a marriage that began with love and ended long before her Bollywood dreams even took off.Long before she became “Mallika Sherawat,” she was Reema Lamba, a young girl from a small village called Moth in Haryana’s Hisar district. And like most girls from small towns at the time, her family wanted to see her settled early. She did exactly that, at just 21, she got married. What followed, though, wasn’t the fairy tale everyone expected.
A love story that turned into a wedding
At that time, Mallika’s husband was Karan Singh Gill, a pilot with a leading airlines. According to Bollywood Shaadis, their relationship wasn’t a typical arranged setup, the two knew each other first, became close, and slowly fell for one another before deciding to make it official as revealed by her uncle Sushil Lamba in a 2009 conversation with Stardust.Their families came together for the wedding, and a big reception followed in Delhi, the kind most Indian families dream of throwing for their children.For a while, it looked like things were falling into place exactly as everyone had hoped. The two families were united, it was a fresh start. But underneath the celebration, Mallika was quietly wrestling with a very different vision for her own life, one that had nothing to do with settling down.
The dream that didn’t fit into the marriage
According to her uncle, Mallika, who was Reema at that time, always believed she was destined for something bigger; fame, recognition, a life completely different from the one she was living as a newly married woman in a traditional household. That ambition didn’t sit well with her married life, and slowly, cracks began to appear.Her in-laws, understandably, had their own expectations. They wanted a daughter-in-law who could balance her individuality with the responsibilities of the family, someone who understood their world even while being her own person. What they didn’t sign up for was late nights, film industry ambitions, and a life built around parties and auditions rather than domestic routine.
When two worlds couldn’t meet
Mallika’s interest in acting grew stronger and the gap between her and her husband’s family widened. Her in-laws were reportedly uncomfortable with the idea of her stepping into films altogether, it simply didn’t align with what they had imagined for their family. As her uncle revealed to the magazine, tensions built between Reema and Karan over time, and disagreements slowly turned into distance.Eventually, Mallika decided she couldn’t keep living a life that didn’t feel like her own. She chose to walk away from the marriage and build an independent path instead. It was a decision that didn’t go down well with either side of the family. Both her parents and her in-laws reportedly pushed back hard, but by then, her mind was made up.
Her ex-mother-in-law’s side of the story
Interestingly, when Karan’s mother was approached by the magazine about this period, she said she didn’t recognise the name “Mallika Sherawat” at all; to her, the girl who had once been part of their family was simply “Reema Lamba”. She spoke fondly of Reema, saying the family had genuinely loved her and welcomed her as their own.But she also admitted that things became difficult once Reema’s independence and ambitions started clashing with what the family expected from her. Her mother-in-law explained that they had hoped for a daughter-in-law who was self-assured yet still rooted in the family’s values, someone who could hold on to both worlds. Reema, however, had her sights set firmly on a career in the film industry, and that dream simply didn’t leave room for the life they had planned together.
Life after the divorce
Once the marriage ended, Mallika never looked back. She left her old identity behind, stepped fully into her acting career, and never spoke publicly in detail about what went wrong. As for Karan Singh Gill, he reportedly continued flying and eventually moved on with his life, though very little else is known about him since he’s stayed away from the media entirely.As for Mallika, she chose never to remarry, throwing herself completely into her work instead. Decades later, that same fearless, unapologetic spirit is exactly what’s making her one of the standout personalities on Traitors Season 2, proof that the choice she made all those years ago was one she never regretted.