Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen are two much-loved Bollywood actresses. The actress duo kickstarted their career by participating in the Miss India 1994. As the two beautiful actresses kickstarted their careers at the same time, there were a lot of rumours that they had some rift between them. Although neither Aishwarya nor Sushmita addressed the same, recently, Maninee De, one of the top 10 finalists of Miss India 1994, reacted to the same and revealed if Aishwarya and Sushmita had any kind of rivalry among them.
Recently, Maninee De sat for an interview with Siddharth Kannan, wherein she walked down memory lane and talked about her friendship with her Miss India 1994 fellow contestants, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. When asked if the reports about their rivalry were true, Maninee shared that the rumours were baseless, and there had not such rift among these two actresses.
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Maninee stated that she had never witnessed anything among these actresses as they both are extremely dignified. Talking about the same, Maninee mentioned that when she and Sushmita went to Delhi for Miss India in 1994, they were told that Aishwarya was already a famous model, so they would not stand there. Sharing that she never witnessed any kind of cold air, Maninee mentioned:
"There was nothing like that between them, this was very media created. Both of them were so dignified, we were in our 20s. To my knowledge there was no rivalry at all. 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.”
Maninee De also shared that they were all co-contestants and everyone was good to each other. She also added that she later met Aishwarya during the screening of the movie, Drona. Sharing deets about their meeting, Maninee mentioned that while she was leaving the place, Aishwarya called her and hugged her. Maninee added that she felt a bit shy and Aishwarya also met her daughter.
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In the same interview, Maninee De talked about her equation with Sushmita Sen. She thanked Sushmita for making her feel confident about herself. She added that when Sushmita was shooting with her first ex-hubby, she became friends with the actress. Maninee mentioned that Sushmita used to recite her poetries to the former at 2 in the night. She also added that Sushmita dragged her to the Claridges Hotel and straight away ordered her to fill out the form for Miss India 1994. Maninee shared that it felt like the Universe had sent the actress to her. In Maninee's words:
"Firstly, for a girl who was never told she is conventionally beautiful, going on India’s premiere contest was in itself a big deal. I must thank Sushmita Sen, she was working with my first ex-husband, and we met and became very good friends. 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. If Sushmita hadn’t been at that time… the universe sent her to me as a catalyst."
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In the same interview, Maninee De mentioned that she met Aishwarya Rai in Goa. Praising the actress, Maninee shared that not only Aishwarya is beautiful, but also she is well-natured. She also shared that when she won the Miss Congeniality contest, Aishwarya came up to her and revealed she had voted Maninee for the sweetest kind of girl she was. Maninee said:
"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. I was so taken aback because there was a wedge between these Delhi and Mumbai girls."
What do you think about Maninee's revelations?
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