After being away for months in the US – where she’s been moving in elite circles and having the milkshakes named after her – Mallika flew down to Karnataka to be part of a special religious ceremony at Shri Ramachandrapur mutt in Gokarna. There, she took blessings from none other than the mutt’s present pontiff, Sri Sri Ragaveshwara Bharathi Swami, who, interestingly, called Mallika “a pure soul”.

The actress, besides offering her prayers, broke ground for the building of a special Hanuman temple near a cave, where Lord Hanuman is believed to have been born. The mutt plans to build a massive, 15-storey high temple devoted to Hanuman. Reports say Mallika took part in special, elaborate pujas for which priests were summoned from as far as Kerala and Mangalore.

Speaking about the experience Mallika said she was honoured to meet the Shankaracharya and be part of the ceremonies that have reconnected her to Hindu roots. The actress has been working on the post-production work of director Jennifer Lynch’s film Hisss in which she plays a snake-woman. Source