'Sushmita Sen Was Crying, Said It’s All Fixed': Prahlad Kakkar Recalls Her Rivalry With Aishwarya Rai

'Sushmita Sen Was Crying, Said It’s All Fixed': Prahlad Kakkar Recalls Her Rivalry With Aishwarya Rai

Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar, who has worked closely with several Bollywood stars, recently revisited the iconic 1994 Miss India pageant, where Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen competed for the coveted crown. Speaking to ANI, Kakkar revealed he witnessed an emotional moment backstage that few knew about.

“That happened in front of me because when they came up for Miss India, I had escorted Aishwarya to Goa with her mother," he shared. “Halfway through the competition, I found Sushmita weeping copiously in one corner. Even though I was from the opposing camp, I went up to her and asked her, ‘What's the problem?' She said, ‘It's all fixed; it's all rigged. We don't know what we are doing here.'"

‘Aishwarya Is So Big… We're Just Beginners'

According to Kakkar, Sushmita felt overshadowed by the massive buzz around Aishwarya at the time. “She told me, ‘Aishwarya is so big, and she is going to be a bigger model. We are all just beginners. They have obviously decided that she is going to be Miss India, and we are all here just for the crumbs,'" he recalled.

The ad guru said he reassured Sushmita that the judging panel, which included dignitaries like Simone Tata, would be fair and impartial. “I told her that Simone Tata was never going to listen to anyone's diktat. And that is exactly what happened — Sushmita won."

‘Sushmita's Answer Sealed The Deal'

Kakkar further shared that the judges were so torn between the two contestants that they introduced an additional round to determine the winner. “Both of them were stunning, but Aishwarya fell. Finally, there was a question-and-answer round, which was an extra round because they couldn't decide between the two. Due to her convent education, Sushmita's answer was far more confident than Aishwarya's. She won in that last round," he said.

The rest, as they say, is history. Sushmita went on to become the first Indian Miss Universe, while Aishwarya brought home the Miss World crown that same year, marking a golden chapter in India's pageant history.

Source: News18
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