Sushmita Sen has had some changes in her personal life recently, but seems content with life and is working very hard on her film career. She has a role in a big film opening tomorrow and has also just announced a new project that she will be producing. Here are a few tidbits about what some call the “thinking-man’s” actress.
On the personal front Sen has split with Manav Menon, but says they remain great friends. Adding, “I have never had this kind of space for myself because I have always been in relationships. But today, I am opening up to life like never before.” Love is put on the back burner for now because she says she has no time for commitment.
There were rumors that she was getting close to her manager Bunty Sajdeh, but this is totally untrue. “He is my manager and people had better get used to the idea of him escorting me around. Just because I put my arms across any man’s shoulders does not mean I am seeing him. Leave Bunty alone, he has a wonderful girlfriend,” Sen said.
As is part of the parcel of being a star and maybe even more so for Sen, her name has been in the news and talked about in some controversies. To the people who call her man-eater she replies, “Man-eater. What people say is their choice, what I accept is my problem. I believe in discounting such stuff because if I let it affect me, then somewhere down the line I’ll start believing it. But soon, I will upset everything, including people’s perceptions and opinions.”
On the career front things are going very well. She plays the role of the widow Durga in Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, which opens tomorrow. About the role she said, “It’s every actor’s dream to be a part of a classic. But I have always been pestering Ramu because I wanted to work with him. When he narrated the subject to me, I just stared blankly at him. But he convinced me, and here I am.”
She is also getting ready to produce a film about “Jhansi Ki Rani” (The Queen of Jhansi). It is a story of Queen Laxmi Bai who fought against the British and refused to give up her kingdom to them. This brave warrior queen is part of the fabric of history during the first war of independence fought against British colonialists.
Sen has been working on and researching this project for a couple of years and the film will release in 2009. She says Queen Bai is India’s Joan of Arc. “The world has seen and knows so much about Joan of Arc but our own Rani Lakshmi Bai has been forgotten. I will definitely take my film and Rani’s courage and valor to the global audience.”
