It is easier to identify various phases in Sushmita Sen’s life by the men she has dated rather than through her achievements in life. With my dear friend Shabana Azmi, I can identity her phases through her awards, like ‘Didn’t this happen when you got your fifth National award for Godmother?’ etc.
Indeed Sushmita has seen more boyfriends come and go in her life than Shabana’s National awards. Counting them would be crude, and Sushmita is anything but.
I regard her as one of the most intelligent and beautiful women in the world…no, make that universe. When I first came to know her, she had broken up with filmmaker Vikram Bhatt who had launched her and she was seeing someone. I think it was someone named Sanjay Narang. I cannot be sure because Sushmita never discussed her boyfriends with me. The next time I visited her home in Mumbai both home and boyfriend had changed. She was seeing a decent bloke named Manav Menon.
Manav is Sushmita’s only love-interest whose number was on my phone. The next time I met her she was shooting with director Mudassar Aziz. I could feel something brewing between them. He was constantly talking about her with me even when she stepped out to take a breather. When she was in the room he was reciting poetry about her eyes.This was not a normal directorial attraction.
Thereafter I lost actual contact with Sushmita. Rather, she chose to lose contact with me. This is what Sushmita does: when she befriends you, she makes you feel like the most important person in her life. Then she loses interest. For her the human experience is a vast garden filled with varied flowers. You pluck. You enjoy. You pluck again….
Many years later we reconnected . She was still the same warm magnetic Sushmita.I got to know she was dating a decent chap named Rohman. ‘So now you are on a Rohman holiday,’ I joked lamely. She laughed heartily. They were talking marriage. I laughed. Sushmita will never get married. It’s like trapping a bird in a cage. She can never be restricted by any one relationship.
When I heard about her latest relationship my reaction was the same as everyone else: this can’t be! Then the initial disbelief changed : why not! Why can’t she date whoever she wants as long as her daughters are comfortable with it? Her daughters tend to get attached to her boyfriends and when she breaks up with them, they miss some of them.
But that’s not the point. I believe Sushmita is being trolled for being a gold digger. Taslima Nasreen who like KRK has a nasty opinion on everyone and everything, is quoted as saying, “Sushmita is now spending time with a very unattractive person involved in various crimes. Because the man is very rich?”
Whoa whoa! Hold on.Firstly attraction is a very personal thing. One man or woman’s pleasure is another’s poison. Secondly, who is anyone to paste character certificates on Sushmita’s wall of morality? Most importantly, what is wrong with having a rich love interest? Which actress in Bollywood has ever fallen in love with a pauper? Is it just coincidence that every screen queen from Sharmila Tagore to Sonam Kapoor is wedded to wealth?
Having said that, let me hasten to add that I have never known Sushmita to chase wealth. It has always been the other way around. The good things in life have come her way as though by right. Sushmita Sen lives her life king-sized regardless of whom she is dating. If now she is dating a wealthy man, let her be happy. Those wagging their fingers at her, please remind yourself: she doesn’t give a damn what you think of her.Sushmita Sen dances to her own tune.You have a problem with that? She doesn’t care.
