TALL AND GORGEOUS
Sushmita Sen is seen as the thinking man's beauty. She is tall at 5'11'' and is slim and shapely. Her eyes are dark and features even. She has a smile that lights up her face. What stands out about her is her grace and poise. India woke up to Sushmita when she competed for the Miss India crown in 1994. She was pitted opposite none other than
Aishwarya Rai. They were neck to neck in all the competitions on that event. At the end Sush won the Miss India crown to everyone's huge surprise. That was a measure of her grit. Immediately she started work on her Miss Universe crown. Working out, practising speeches, walk everything. When the Miss Universe title was announced, she reacted by putting her hands to her face and making a perfect O out of her mouth. The nation celebrated as we now had our first very own Miss Universe.
It was her birthday too, and when asked what gift she wished for, she said she wanted
Aishwarya Rai to be the Miss World. Her wish was granted and India won the singular honor of having two major beauty crowns in their kitty when
Aish won the Miss World.
Her success spawned the dreams of millions of young girls in India who dreamed of making it big like these girls and set to honing their figure and working on their speech. There was even a pop group that sang - Banoogi mein Miss India.
FLAT START
As soon as her year with Miss Universe was up, she took up the glamourous option of working in Hindi movies. Cleverly, her film started where her pagent ended.. with her win. A stalker sees her on TV screen and falls for her. He chases and terrorises her across the globe. This Mahesh Bhatt starrer was past paced, but not a good enough hit. Sushmita learnt the need for some 'add-ons' to her personality and got some vital parts of her body enhanced. Indians prefer a buxom beauty, and Sush was determined to 'blend in'. Her next movie
Zor was with
Sunny Deol in a typical fighting terrorists role, Sush sang and danced, albeit awkwardly. But that was ok, because Sunny is known for his heavy stepping.
The next,
Sirf Tum with Sanjay Kapoor and Priya Gill had her playing a boyfriend snatcher. The movie went down like a ton of bricks.
FUN NO 1It took David Dhawan and his skillful comic touch to bring out the first spark of life in Sushmita. She was paired with good friend
Salman and
Karishma. She plays the 'other woman' who is conned by a wily two timing husband (
Salman) into believing that the guy is in a bad shape at home. It was her first big hit, and she performed very well. There were several songs and dances in the movie to turn it into an all time favorite viewing.
In Khalid Mohammed's
Fiza she grabbed eyeballs singing '
Mehboob mere'. Her song comes at a point when the story is just begining to get interesting. Farah Khan choreographed that dance and she was struck by Sush's grace and beauty. She promised to take Sush as a heroine whenever she made a movie.
There were some more inconsequential movies ahead.
Kyon ki mein Jhooth Nahi Bolta was David Dhawan's take on Liar Liar. It was a
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Govinda movie, co-starring Sushmita. The movie was not a big hit, surprisingly for David Dhawan. Megha Gulzaar's debut came with
Filhaal, a depiction of surrogate motherhood. The movie was seen as a slowmoving one and did badly at the box office.
Vipul Shah's
Aankhen had
Sushmita Sen in a lead role. She was supposed to train three blind men for a bank robbery, under duress. The movie was unusual and a surprise hit. Robby Grewal's
Samay: When Time Strikes, did not cause floods at the box office, but was crictically acclaimed, and is described as a fine film by discerning viewers. It had Sushmita in the lead role of an efficient ACP, Malvika Chauhan.
Alas for
Paisa Vasool, there was no paisa vasool in it, despite Sush and
Manisha Koirala, for either the viewer or the makers of the movie.
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICSNext came a role that Farah Khan had promised Sushmita years ago.
Main Hoon Na was Farah's debut film starring
Shahrukh Khan. He could have had any heroine for the asking, but Farah showed uncanny casting skills by pairing him with Sushmita. She turned Chandni Ma'am into an iconic role.
Shahrukh played an undercover cop posing as a late student, who falls in love with the beautiful chemistry teacher, Chandni. It was every boy's hormonal dream come true. Chandni walked gracefully down the corridors of the school, draped in beautiful sarees, holding fancy tasselled folders while poor
Shahrukh turns into jelly at the sight of her. The movie was almost like a last word in FUN and repeated viewings take nothing away from it.
Alas for Sushmita that roles like Chandni have not come her way often, for these are the roles that bring out her beauty, talent and charisma. But then it took one movie to show all the girls who the lady among them was.
There were a string of inconsequential roles till she was paired with Salman again with David Dhawan holding the reins.
Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya starred her as Salman's secretary who is in love with him and watches helplessly as he makes a fool of himself over various females. Luckily
Salman comes to his senses and realises that she is the girl for him. It was a crazy movie, and Sushmita brought a measure of dignity to her role, making it seem better than it was.
ZINDAGI TRIES TO ROCKChingari was supposed to be a serious films with feminist overtones, by Kalpana Lajmi. But things went wrong and accusations flew thick and fast after the film's debacle.
Zindaggi Rocks by Tanjua Chandra was supposed to be centred around Sushmita. But it turned out to be a damp squib.
RGV ki Aag, the much publicised remake of
Sholay has turned into cold ashes at the BO. In some theatres, it has been taken down before the mandatory week was up. Poor Sushmita got panned for a movie that was nothing but a butchers job.
Sush has all the goods. She is beautiful, talented, poised and dignified. She has it in her to make it big in bollywood. Somehow, with her poise and sophistication, she reminds you of Simi Garewal. We do hope future brings light and glitter for this awesome beauty.
GOSSSSSIPThe Ash-Sush rivallary was made much of in the begining of their careers ever since they competed closely for the Miss India crown. The joined the film industry simultaneously too, which whetted the apetite of gossipmongers. But consequently they took different roads, with
Aish concentrating on a career in Hollywood and marrying
Abhishek. Sushmita danced to her own tunes and the press too ceased comparing the two different beauties.
Sushmita has had a string of boyfriends eating out of her hands. She started with Vikram Bhatt, paused at Randeep Hooda (the
Monsoon Wedding hunk) and is now rumoured to be dating Bunty Malhotra, a businessman.
She adopted a baby girl Renee and is a devoted mother.
She cocked a snook at all men by buying her own diamond solitare.
She is a perfect single working mother. She has her own agenda in life, and is perfectly happy being an independent single person.
FILMOGRAPHY