The Miss India Pageant in 1994 is indeed the memory of all. And there’s no surprise for it being the most memorable as two of the finalists were Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. Aishwarya Rai, already a model and a hot favourite to win the crown.
Sushmita Sen participated in the contest and was about to drop her name out of the contest when she realized that Aishwarya Rai also was one of the competitors. But she revealed it that her mother told her to continue with the contest.
Sushmita than won the Miss India Crown in 1994 and also won the Miss Universe Pageant the same year. Sushmita Sen was the first Indian to win the Miss Universe Pageant. While Aishwarya Rai won the Miss World Pageant the same year.
The Miss India Round was a tie-breaker round that titled the competition in Sushmita’s Favour.
Aishwarya Rai was asked the question, “If you have to look for qualities in a husband, would you look for the qualities in Ridge Forrester from ‘The Bold & Beautiful’ or in Mason Capwell from ‘Santa Barbara’?” To which Aishwarya answered,”Mason. They do have a lot in common, but from what we see, Mason has a very caring side to him and a terrific sense of humour. And that really gels with my character”.
Sushmita Sen was asked, “What do you know about the textile heritage of your country? How old has it been and what do you prefer to wear personally?” Sushmita’s answer was, “I think it all started with Mahatma Gandhi’s khadi. It has gone a long way since then, but the basics of Indian textile heritage have been from there.”
