There have been multiple instances when former Miss Universe, talented actor & philanthropist, Sushmita Sen, has made us fallen in love with the great human she is.
Here are all the times when she floored us by showing how great and strong a woman she is and left us inspired.
1. When Sushmita Stood for Herself during the Miss Universe Contest
We all know Sushmita Sen won Miss India and Aishwarya Rai was the first runner-up in 1994. But, what many of us don’t know that just before the Miss Universe Contest, the organizer of Miss India misplaced her passport. Then someone suggested letting Aishwarya Rai go for Miss Universe and she go to Miss World.
In her interview with Rajeev Masand, Sushmita shared how the proposal made her very angry. She further adds:
“Because when you win something, rightfully so, you’re not requesting it. So we now have to come together and ensure that this gets done. It’s easy to say ‘Yea, well now we can’t find it. The passport is lost. Miss World is in November. You go later, we’ll figure out your passport till then.’”
But Sushmita Sen refused to bow down to the organizer’s unfair demand. She put her foot down.
Further sharing the details of that tough phase, Sushmita mentioned:
“I only cried in front of my father and I said, ‘Baba, I’m not going for anything else. I rightfully deserve to go for this. If I can’t go, nobody else will go for it’,” she said.
Thankfully, everything got resolved later and with help of late union minister Rajesh Pilot, Sushmita Sen represented the country at Miss Universe.But, how she put her foot down and fought for what was hers make us fall in love with her!
2. When Sushmita Sen Fought Against the System to Adopt Two Little Girls
Sushmita has always openly spoken about adoption and parenting. She adopted her elder daughter Renee at age of 25. But, at age of 35, when Sushmita filed for adoption of Aslisah, she had to struggle a lot. She fought a legal fight for almost 10 years since it mandated the adoption of a son after a daughter. While sharing her struggle with adoption, the actress mentioned in one of her interviews:
The process of adoption in our country is very complicated. Documents, orientation and many such things make it very difficult for people to adopt. I appeal to authorities to make adoption less tedious. I fought a legal battle of 10 years to be able to adopt my second daughter, Alisa, because Indian laws don’t allow adoption of another girl after a girl. I challenged this along with like-minded people and changed the law.
Once again, she showed us how real women don’t give in to the oppressive and regressive systems. Rather, they fight against such systems to bring change!
3. When She Used Her Fame For All The Right Reasons
There are very few celebrities who have gone ahead and used their fame in bringing a positive change in society. Sushmita Sen is one of those celebrities. In one of her interviews, she mentioned how she wanted to use her fame for the right reason and one of them was to give a better life to unfortunate and underprivileged kids:
“Winning the title also took to various orphanages around the world, and that is when I felt a strong connection with children. Sometimes, children from the orphanages would ask me to take them home, and that made me think. I started wondering what the use of all my fame was if I could not give one of those children a home?”
Sushmita, who is associated with several charitable projects and NGOs, was also awarded “The International Mother Teresa Award.” for her extensive social work.
4. When She Let The World Know That She Doesn’t Need A Man To Complete Her
Despite the media being obsessed about her not being married yet, Sushmita has time and again handled the questions about her singledom with grace. On being quizzed about her solitaire ring, she had said, “I don’t need a man in my life to have diamonds. I can own them myself.”
That’s how she set an example for all women in the country – that getting married should not be the only aim in life.
5. When She Offered Renee Help To Seek Out Her Birth Parents
In her earlier interview, Sushmita Sen shared how she offered Renee help to find her birth parents. While sharing the details with Rajeev Masand, Sushmita mentioned,
“I told her we don’t know if the court has the names of her biological parents but there is information in an envelope which is only rightfully hers after she turns 18. I didn’t want to give her the wrong information because I did not want her to go there and get her heart broken. I told her, ‘I’ll take you whenever you’re ready… we must go.’ She told me, ‘But why do you want me to go find out?’”
It shows how Sushmita believes in giving her kids the choice to make big decisions. If this is not empowerment, then what is!
6. When She Told Why Mothers Needn’t Sacrifice For Kids
Contrary to popular belief that mothers should make sacrifices for her kids, here is awarded “The International Mother Teresa Award.”.
The good thing is that I’ve never made any “sacrifices” for my children. Because when you put sacrifice as an element, you tend to let the child feel the pressure of “I did this for you”.
It’s so true. The time we start thinking on the lines of sacrifice, we start putting pressure on our kids, knowingly or unknowingly. As they grow up and demand their own space, we are quick to make them realize how much have we sacrificed for them.
7. When She Reacted To Juhi Chawla’s Singing
A real woman is one who inspires, builds, and celebrates the other woman. When Juhi Chawla treated the audience with a song from Kal Ho Naa Ho at the Zee Cine Awards back in 2004, the reaction of Sushmita Sen took away our hearts. In the audience, you can see Sushmita Sen asking if Juhi is singing or lip-syncing to the original song. And, when she realizes that it is actually Juhi Chawla singing the song, her celebratory roar for Juhi makes us fall for her!
Women supporting women is what we need!
Thanks, Sushmita for inspiring millions of us in millions of ways!