God saved me: Sushmita Sen recalls almost getting married thrice

When about how she managed to remain so open about her relationships at a time when men in the industry would pretend to be ‘virgins’, Sushmita, who has famously remained unmarried, and broken stereotypes by adopting at 24 back in the day, said, “Khud ko khoya, toh kya paaya (We gain nothing by losing ourselves). That’s been my standard belief in life. I just wanted to be honest and speak my mind, and learn how to say it gracefully… Be it plastic surgery, men in my life, relationships, married men, whatever you think is a bad thing, it exists, get over it.”

When asked if  she ever felt getting married would be difficult because she was a mother, Sushmita clarified that her decision to remain single had nothing to do with her kids. “Once I became a mother and Renee happened, forget Alisah, when Renee happened, there was no man who came into my life and didn’t know my priority was her. There was no two ways about it. So, it wasn’t like, ‘I love you baby and I’ll do anything for you’, because I wasn’t that age, one. And two, I wasn’t giving false hopes anywhere. This was it. My daughter is very, very important to me, till a certain age, because she needs me. Now, I don’t expect anybody to come and share the responsibility with me but never try and ask me to step away from it.”

She continued, “Luckily, I’ve met some very interesting men in my life, and the only reason I didn’t get married is because they were a letdown. It had nothing to do with my kids. My kids were never in the equation, if anything, they’ve been very gracious. They have accepted people in my life with open arms, given everybody an equal measure of love and respect. It’s the most beautiful thing to watch. I came close to getting married thrice. All three times God saved me. I can’t tell you what disasters followed with their respective lives. God did protect me, but also because God protected these two kids, he can’t let me get into a messy affair.”

Sushmita also recalled an incident between her and director Mahesh Bhatt on the sets of her debut film, Dastak. She was asked to play a version of herself in the film, after the filmmaker convinced her to transition to movies following her Miss Universe win in 1994. Sushmita opened up about how Mahesh berated her in front of the entire crew, forcing her to walk away in anger. But he explained to her later that it was all a plot to get a performance out of her.

Sushmita recollected how Mahesh had initially convinced her to play herself onscreen: “’When did I say you’re a fabulous actor? But I’m a fabulous director,’ he told me.” Laughing at his confidence, Sushmita continued, “I’m doing this mahurat shot, where I pull out my earring and throw it at somebody, and I’m doing it so badly I can’t even begin to tell you. He’s a fabulous director, I’ll give him that, because he broke inhibitions in front of 40 media people, 20 production assistants, publicly attacking me.”

She added, “And I started crying… He was like, ‘Kya leke aaye ho? Playing Miss Universe like this on camera, she can’t act to save her life’. So, I got very angry, and started walking off the set. He tried to hold my hand, and I just snapped at him and said, ‘No, you don’t talk to me like that’. I was walking away, and he grabbed my hand again and said, ‘That’s anger, go back and give it (on camera)’.”