Sushmita Sen turned 44 today and she still looks so flawless it almost feels age has stopped ticking on her.
Sushmita Sen is no ordinary name. She represents the contemporary Indian woman — strong, independent, opinionated, multi-tasking.
In fact, she is the epitome of grace and champion of most extraordinary circumstances, choices, and life as a whole.
She has stood up to them in the way she found correct and is completely unapologetic about them. Her charisma, exuberance, and zeal for life are infectious and she has the enigma of lighting up space by her mere presence.
Sushmita Sen’s personality commands respect and gives back more love and respect; a genuinely rare but endearing quality to find in people these days.
PERSONIFYING ‘EKLA CHALO RE’
For those of you who don’t know, ‘ekla chalo re‘ is the verse of a famous Rabindra Nath Tagore’s Bengali poem. The verses mean ‘Dare to walk alone when no one responds to your call’.
The life story of this gorgeous daughter, mother, actor, female is quite unique, like her distinct choices. She had everything going for her, but she put them on hold for things she wanted as a mother.
At a mere age of 18 years, Sushmita Sen won the Miss India crown.
Her win advanced her to represent her country on one of the most prestigious international platform, Miss Universe. Coming from a middle-class army background, this determined girl wore a curtain cloth gown by a local tailor and stocking made gloves for her Miss India final round, for a finale where everyone was floored by Aishwarya Rai’s traditional beauty.
But, Sushmita Sen treads past her to win the crown.
She became the first Indian to win the Miss Universe crown ever.
Fame, modeling, and films followed.
MAKING MEMORIES WITH MOVIES
She looked gorgeous (remember the saree in Main Hoon Naa), smiled infectiously and lead her career path intelligently. She worked in the Hindi, Tamil and Bengali Cine industries. Without a strong mentor by her side, some of her films worked and some did not.
But, Sushmita Sen never let a Friday (the day these movies release) define her. In course of time, she began garnering success in both commercial (main hoon na, maine pyar kyun kiya, biwi no.1, amongst others) and critic-friendly (Filhaal, Samay: when time strikes, Zindagi rocks, amongst others) cinema. She was getting there slowly, but surely.
THE NURTURING SOUL
At a young age of 24, she then planned to become a single mother to ‘Renee’ (another first for the society at that point in time).
Sushmita Sen had to fight a long legal battle to get her daughter home.
Led by her nurturing, motherly-instincts, she even left the cine world and a blooming career to nurture her younger adopted daughter, Alisa. A work debacle of six years in prime youth for an actress is a task easier said than done.
But she made her choices loud and clear, without any sort of remorse.
She was flying, in a new direction with self-created wings, in the hope to find her own happiness.
SHE FACED SEVERE HEALTH HOSTILITIES
Few know that Sushmita Sen was suffering from severe slip disc issues and a rare ‘cortisol’ disorder, for two years straight. She was continuously suffering as a patient, with unending weakness, puffed face, falling hair, dependent on a high dosage of steroids (had to be taken at 8 hourly intervals) for life.
Who could have guessed that the seemingly exotic smile on such a beautiful face would hide such excruciating pain as well?
The doctors advised her to forget about her career, as the stress would intensify the issues. But, again her guts and grit got the better of her. She got through the treatment well in time and health. Even to the doctor’s disbelief, she went on to pull her strengths back together and free herself from the clutches of the disease.
Her will-power to return to her fans and her kids as well as ‘aerial silk’ helped. She has now also launched her studio ‘Inhale’ for the same.
Sushmita Sen had got the health lesson the harder way in life. She is now a fitness freak, whose health choices and routines inspire millions to get in shape. Her Instagram posts regularly feature workout routines to practice and preach.
ALWAYS DEFYING THE ODDS
Sushmita Sen has inspired millions, especially females. She exudes poise, grace, and confidence in a very subtle manner. She has had obstacles in every way.
- There were challenges in winning the Miss India Crown, in participating for the Miss Universe Contest (Loss of passport, amongst others)
- Her films were not of very good choices
- In motherhood, she went for single parent adoption and her personal health issues amongst others.
But, she somehow seems to take them all in her stride with an endearing smile. Her genuineness and honesty in facing the world and her unabashed manner of sticking to her choices make her a true feminist but in a very relatable kind of way.
DESTINY’S CHILD
Sushmita Sen is many talents woven into one individual. She is the diva, the actor who has given brilliant performances, an entrepreneur with a jewelry store in Dubai, a poet with a knack for writing ‘prose’, a fitness guru, an animal lover, a tarot card reader…and the list seems endless.
How does she manage to adorn so many hats, despite being a full-time mom is beyond comprehension?
Maybe the answer lies in the nurturing spirit that inspires her to give back more and more; to the people, her fans, her family, her kids, the society and the country.
FEVERISH FAN FOLLOWING
Working or not, Sushmita Sen seems to emanate this ‘aura of positivity’ that attracts people of all ages and virtues towards her. Maybe it’s her positivity towards life or the saint-like innocence, or both, but she has been able to inspire millions of fans globally who are very loyal towards her.
She is followed by a massive 5.9 million people on Twitter.
More than 4million people follow her on Instagram. The unique thing about these handles is the fact that they are managed by Sushmita Sen herself and not some other PR company. She loves to connect with people and tell them about her life in her own way.
SUSH2.0
Audiences and her fans await her revival in the cine industry, adorning the hat of an actor once again. Rumor has it that she is already looking at them in different lights and some ventures with Amazon or Netflix might just be on the cards.
We await the comeback of this sassy sensible, yet unapologetic femme fatale.
