Sushmita Sen Can Do What She Wants With Whom She Wants

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.