I first heard of Sushmita Sen in a very memorable way - it was 1996 and the World Cup Cricket was to be co-hosted by India and Pakistan. (I’m South African by the way and I love cricket.) Anyway, there was this rumour that the former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen was going to perform a strip tease number at the opening ceremony. She never did, but anyway, her name stuck in my head along with that of Aishwarya Rai who won the Miss World pageant in my country in 1994.

Sushmita is truly something. Her name conjures up an image of a rare breed of Bollywood women - she is beautiful, overtly sexy, but remains classy and she can act. It frustrates me that such a talented woman who I liken to Hollywood veterans like Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall is overlooked in favour of bland boring twits like Karisma Kapoor (sorry, I can’t stand either sister) or overhyped divas Aishwarya Rai (in all fairness, she cannot act).

With the annoying trend of pairing older guys with girls much younger than them, Sushmita’s opportunities are increasingly limited. She’s 30 and looks her age. She looked so great with SRK in Main Hoon Na , but it seems the actors want actresses who fit the ’young damsel in distress’ mould and Sushmita doesn’t fit any mould.

Bollywood should really tap into Sush’s talent. If they don’t want her, she should definitely pursue Hollywood - they’ll snap her up faster than you can say, ’Aishwarya.’

Sush, may your star burn bright and hope BW recognizes your talent before it’s too late.

Who is your all time favorite movie personality?

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