`Hisss` to be released on October 22

Thiruvananthapuram: Member of Travancore Royal family Laxmi Bai Nalapat, who plays a promient role in the multi-lingual film `Hisss` today said she was happy to be making her debut in a film which features a highly talented artiste like Mallika Sherawat in the lead role.

`Mallika is a very hardworking and dedicated actor. She spent hours together to get perfection for a four-minute snake dance scene in the film," Lakshmi Bail told reporters here today. The all-India release of the multi-lingual film is slated for October 22, she said. Lakshmi Bai, wife of eminent journalist M D Nalapat and daughter-in-law of celebrated writer late Kamala Surya, said it was purely by chance that she came to be associated with the movie, which focuse on various shades of anicent snake worship. "The director Hiss Govind Menon is a friend of mine and it was he who invited me to act in the movie", she said. "Hisss has a interesting theme exploring various dimensions of faith, superstition and religion," Laxmi Bai, who appears in the role of a mother, "Maji", in the film, said. The story line of the movie evolves around the arduous journey of an American man into the heart of the Malabar coast, believed to be the dwelling place of the Snake Goddess. Asked if the film did not justify superstition and ancient practices like snake worship, she said "it is for the audience to judge." Mallika Sherawat and Lakshmi Bai had yesterday offered prayers at the famous Sree Nagaraja temple at Mannarasala, one of the most important serpant temple in Kerala. Laxmibai said she also had received an invitation for doing a role in an India-China joint venture movie. PTI