Maninee De co-contestant Of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita clears air on rivalry amidst the twosome
Maninee De co-contestant
Of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita clears air on rivalry amidst the twosome
Maninee De co-contestant of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen in Miss India 1994 clears air over rivalry
Actress Maninee De, who partcipated with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen in the Miss India contest in 1994, spoke about her bond with the leading ladies of Bollywood.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen have been celebrated actresses in Bollywood, and both of them started their journey in 1994 with the Miss India pageant.
And being the leading ladies there were reports about the two actresses having an intense rivalry. However, now actress Maninee De who was also amongst the top 10 finalists in the Miss India contest of 1994 spoke about her equation with both Aishwarya and Sushmita and also about the rivalry that has been much spoken about.
Maninee De shared how Sushmita Sen pushed her to be a part of the contest in an interview to Siddharth Kannan. She said, “Firstly, for a girl who was never told she is conventionally beautiful, going on India’s premiere contest was in itself a big deal. She must thank Sushmita Sen, she was working with her first ex-husband, and met and became very good friends.
She used to recite poetries to me at 2 am in the night and would say that she was one of those few people who would understand what she was writing. 9he 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. She told her she is very exotic and her USP is that she poke very well. From there the journey began,” she said. Further, Maninee also spoke about her meeting with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and said, she had never gone to Goa, so was thrilled that she was going there.
We just left for Goa to have fun, and when we reached there, we saw Aishwarya Rai and told ourselves that we were mad to compete with her. But what a lovely girl she has been, she was so gracious; not only is she beautiful but also very good-natured. She won the Miss Congeniality contest that time and she walked up to her. saying that she voted for me because she was genuinely the sweetest of the lot. She was much taken aback because there was a wedge between these Delhi and Mumbai girls. We felt marginalized at that time, but history speaks for itself, the Delhi girls achieved what they had to.”
Maninee De further added thstuucalled it ‘media created’ and said, “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 she has witnessed.
Maninee De has been a part of popular shows like Jassi Jaise Koi Nahi, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, Gulmohar Grand, etc. She has also starred in films like Krrish, Fashion, and Student Of The Year. Maninee De was last seen in the web series Campus Diaries.
News Edit K.V.Raman
