Ever since
Sushmita Sen
and
Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan participating together in the
Miss India
Pageant in 1994, people speculated that there was
rivalry
between them. The stories and speculations still continue. Their co-contestant
Maninee De
has now steered clear on these speculations as she recalled memories with both these beauties.
Maninee revealed that they were both very warm and very gracious.
The actress said it was all media-created but even in their 20s, the two actresses were very dignified. “This was media created because
Sushmita
was the underdog, when we went from Delhi we were told Aishwarya was a model for a popular soap brand so what would we even do there. But there was nothing like that, especially from what I have witnessed,” said Maninee.
She further recalled memories with both of them and said that Sushmita acted like a catalyst for Maninee to participate. “If Sushmita hadn’t been at that time… the universe sent her to me as a catalyst. She told me I am very exotic and my USP is that I spoke very well. From there the journey began,” said De. The actress also said that she bonded with Sushmita as she was working with her first ex-husband. “She used to recite poetries to me at 2 am in the night and would say that I was one of those few people who would understand what she was writing. She dropped me at the Claridges Hotel and ordered me to apply, so the last form filled out for Miss India in 1994 was mine,” said Maninee.
De said that it was a heartwarming moment when years after the pageant, she had met Aishwarya on the sets of ‘Drona’. Talking about her memories with her when they were in Goa, Maninee said, “We just left for Goa to have fun, and when we reached there, we saw Aishwarya Rai and told ourselves that we were mad to compete with her. But what a lovely girl she has been, she was so gracious; not only is she beautiful but also very good-natured. I won the Miss Congeniality contest that time and she walked up to me saying that she voted for me because I was genuinely the sweetest of the lot.”
Was there a rivalry between Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan? Their co-contestant Maninee De spills the bean on it!
Maninee revealed that there’s a difference between colleagues and friends and in the capacity of co-contestants, both Aishwarya and Sushmita were very sweet to her. “Later when I met Aishwarya during the screening of Drona, I was leaving and she called out to me and it was so heartening. I felt shy, but she hugged me with so much love and met my daughter too,” said Maninee.
