Remember CATS, the early-2000s television series featuring Nafisa Joseph, Kuljeet Randhawa and Malini Sharma? While Joseph and Randhawa tragically died by suicide, Sharma gradually distanced herself from the entertainment industry. Today, she leads a life that looks very different from her Bollywood days — surrounded by farms, trees, homegrown produce and guests at her property in the Sahyadri Hills.Sharma first became familiar to audiences as a model, featuring in the Bombay Vikings music video “Kya Soorat Hai”, which went on to become hugely popular. She later appeared in Mika Singh’s “Saawan Mein Lag Gayi Aag”, another much-loved music video from that era.Her modelling career was already flourishing when she joined CATS. The show eventually helped her transition into films, and she landed a key role in Vikram Bhatt’s Raaz (2002), starring alongside Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu.Raaz became a major box-office success, establishing its lead actors as household names. While Sharma had a relatively smaller part, she made an impact, particularly through her appearance in the song “Aapke Pyaar Mein”, which became one of the most memorable elements of her short Bollywood stint.During this period, Sharma was married to actor Priyanshu Chatterjee, who had made his debut with Tum Bin in 2001. Their marriage ended in divorce a few years later. Around the same time, Sharma began gradually withdrawing from the public eye.She reportedly walked out of the film Encounter just 48 hours before its scheduled shoot in 2002. According to India Today, Sharma had begun thinking beyond acting and modelling and wanted to explore opportunities behind the camera. The project eventually featured Naseeruddin Shah, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Tara Deshpande.For years afterwards, Sharma largely stayed away from mainstream entertainment coverage. However, rather than disappearing completely, she channelled her energy into creating a venture of her own.On social media, she operates under the name The Slow Local, rather than using her celebrity identity. The initiative began nearly a decade ago in Versova and initially focused on locally produced food, crafts, workshops and pop-up events.Through The Slow Local, Sharma organised activities for children, including storytelling workshops, and sold products such as homemade bread, South Indian coffee, granola, jams, peanut butter and different varieties of oils. The venture also featured plant exhibitions, handmade ceramics, crochet, decoupage, cakes and other homemade food products.Over time, the project evolved into something much closer to the countryside.Sharma now operates a farmstay in the Sahyadris, roughly two hours from Pune. She grows vegetables on the property and uses the farm’s produce to prepare meals for visitors. In one of her Instagram videos, she opened up about the difficulty of growing enough vegetables to meet the demands of the property.“When I started The Slow Local Diaries, I confessed I did a shoddy job with the vegetable produce but this year, the produce has been better. The challenge is to produce enough for meal after meal,” she said.Sharma has described the property as being in a small village in the hills, around two hours from Pune. The farm is surrounded by extensive greenery, and she has consciously chosen to preserve much of the natural environment instead of developing it.“We have mostly grown fruit trees at the farm .. the land came with great abundance when we bought it .. several arjun and harad trees, we also have a few kokum, an ancient Palash, shikakai and still discovering more,” she said.She has also spoken about learning more about the medicinal properties of the plants and trees growing on the land. The property is large enough to include part of a mountain, but Sharma has deliberately kept that section untouched.“We have left the jungle be in the mountain, we don’t want to disturb the habitat. It is our own little forest,” she said.Her vision for the farm has been to provide organically grown food for guests while creating an environment where visitors can disconnect from the pace of urban life. Sharma appears to have moved to the property around 2020. A 2025 post about her visit to the Kaas Plateau offered a clue about the timeline, as she mentioned discovering the destination around four years earlier, after moving to the farm.“Recently visited the kaas plateau… its a 3.5 hour drive from the farm .. there were few varieties in bloom but more will come about as the season progresses.. always wanted to visit the valley of flowers in uttarakhand as I didn’t know about kaas .. i read about kaas 4 years back when i moved to the farm .. .finally saw it .. would love to go again before seson ends in Oct,” she wrote.Despite years of speculation about why she stepped away from Bollywood, Sharma has generally avoided discussing her decision in detail. Instead, she occasionally interacts with followers in Instagram comments, where she has confirmed that she is indeed the Malini Sharma who appeared in Raaz and shared occasional details about her personal life.In one exchange, a fan wrote: “Ma’am mai Muslim hoo lekin apka bahaut bada fans hu!” Sharma responded: “I am half Muslim too… I have married a Pathan.” When the fan asked if she was married to Priyanshu Chatterjee and whether they remained in contact, Sharma replied: “Not at all.”She has also pushed back against the idea that she completely abandoned Bollywood. When a fan asked whether she regretted leaving the industry, she replied: “Who said I left, only steered away, can steer back and away again maybe.”And when another follower suggested that she should create social media accounts under her real name because fans struggled to find her, Sharma responded: “They’ll find me like you did.”Her decision to document her life through The Slow Local Diaries also suggests that she has not completely turned her back on the camera. The video diary offers glimpses into her life at the farm and marked her return to appearing on camera after years away. Introducing the project, she wrote: “Facing the camera again after very long… this time the real me, no makeup, no dialogues, shooting from the heart.”In the launch video, Sharma addressed the mystery surrounding her disappearance herself.“Hi, this is Malini, facing the camera again after 23 years of Raaz. For those of you wondering where I disappeared, well, I am alive. I am here to present The Slow Local Diaries,” she said.The video also featured a nostalgic touch — the background music was her own “Aapke Pyaar Mein” from Raaz.Her life at the farm has not meant a complete break from professional commitments. Sharma recently revealed that she works from home as a relationship manager for a coffee company.She also sells customised oils, while her farm property doubles as a retreat. Her 3BHK villa in the forest is available for monthly rentals, with packages that include accommodation, meals and sessions with psychologists in collaboration with mental health professionals. The property also features a library and is designed around a slower pace, offering personalised meals, nature walks and conversations away from the bustle of city life.When SCREEN approached Sharma for an interview, she declined, explaining that she preferred to communicate through her Instagram page whenever she felt the need. In many ways, that response reflects the life she has chosen today.Once accustomed to Bollywood’s cameras and attention, Sharma now appears more interested in the world she has created than in revisiting the one she left behind. She has not erased her past as the model and actor from CATS, Raaz and some of the era’s most recognisable music videos. Instead, she seems to have simply chosen to build a life where those chapters are no longer the centre of the story.
