Scandal Flashback: Miss India 1994- The Drama Behind The Scenes

Back in the 90s, the Miss India contests were just a one evening affair in the city of dreams, where Bollywood came alive – Bombay (now Mumbai). While the 1994 Miss India contest began in Bombay, the finale was to be held in Goa. 

 

As one of the participants recalls, it was all about flaunting everything you had – from the talk, the walk, etc. Amidst participants, the vanity boxes, the click of heels, the chitchat and the giggles, there was one girl who stood out from the rest. Even with minimal make-up, she was a head turner: Aishwarya Rai. A fellow participant, Mehroo Mistry recalled, “I had met her, a couple of times before that during some modelling assignments, when she was still a struggling model like most of us. She would always keep to herself and would be chaperoned by her mum. But one fine day she shot to fame and her face was plastered on most big brands! Having her as a contestant, amongst us relatively unknown faces, just didn't seem fair!”

 

INITIALLY, MEHROO WAS CONFIDENT since this was her second time participating, but when Aishwarya showed up, she knew in her heart that the competition was tougher than it already was. It was not just Mehroo, but a few other participants too, were in awe of Ash’s natural beauty. 

Back then in 1994, models were invited to participate in the contest. So was Aishwarya. 

Though she was invited in 1992 to participate as well, the reply came back that she was still studying. Finally, Ash participated in 1994, and by then, she was already a known face. Make-up artist, Pravin Banker, introduced her to Sathya Saran of Femina magazine. While Sushmita was spotted at a night club, by Ranjan Bakshi, then a senior manager with the Times of India. 

 

WHEN THE CONTEST BEGAN it wasn’t really Ash versus Sush! A source revealed, “You see, Aishwarya was a tall, fair, good-looking, light-eyed beauty - someone the pageant needed desperately to show off in the international contest. Sushmita Sen wasn't really noticed till the end of the competition. She was too tall, comparatively dark, a black-eyed regular girl…one of the many other girls!” 

While word spread that Aishwarya had won the contest even before it began considering her popularity; her tough competitors were Jasmit Randhawa, Francesca Hart and Komal Rampal, and amidst them all, Sushmita, as per a source, was still gauche. 

Another participant, on the request of being anonymous, said that while contestants like Jasmeet Kaur, Shweta Menon and Aishwarya Rai were always seen presentable at any point of the day, she was exhausted as she could not fit in. In the effort to make the other conscious or shake their confidence, girls would flaunt whatever they were best in. Some flaunted designer gowns, some fake smiles with a miss-know-it-all attitude; some went further with their fluent English while others kept to themselves, as if guarding a secret to win the crown.

 

REVEALING ANOTHER INCIDENT FROM the finale in Goa, Mehroo said, “The feeling of unfairness kept building up as we saw most of the judges talking to Aishwarya and greeting her during the sub-contests. It came as no surprise when she won one of them! This may have happened because she was already known in the modelling world and had done quite a few print and TV ads. During those few days in Goa, I barely interacted with her. After rehearsals, most of the girls would retreat to their rooms while I would be pacing around trying to befriend someone, anyone! While I didn't pay much attention to the final winner, Sushmita Sen, I do remember her smoking quite a bit behind the scenes. But she always looked focused, practicing her poise, her diction, while I was whiling away my time, waiting to go home!”

In her blog, Sathya Saran wrote, “Everyone said we'd found our Miss India even before the contest had started. Sush had appeared in the magazine when she had modelled for one of JJ Valaya's fashion spreads but Aishwarya was instant magic before the camera. Sushmita, before the camera, was naive but Ranjan saw something in her. She was a dark horse. No one had the impression of a winner during the qualifying rounds. But Aishwarya won Miss Ten, a title given to someone with the best body in the competition. Internationally, this is often the decider. Once you win Miss Ten at the Miss Universe, you are as good as home. But Aishwarya's body wasn't toned; I protested but the other judges shot me down. But Sushmita was working quietly towards winning the crown. She told me later that she was confident of winning as long as she made it past the swimsuit round.”

As for the other contestants, many were reportedly upset and felt it was unfair that the make-up artistes were concentrating on Aishwarya in between rounds; and that the judges were leaning towards her.

 

THE FINALE – JANUARY 16, 1994

For the first time in the history of India, there was a tie in the final round! Prior to this, Aishwarya stood at a 9.10 score while Sushmita was at 8.60. This round brought the two at a 9.33 score each. Dalip Tahil, the host of the evening, was caught off-guard. When he read from his script, “It is a tie!” he blurted out, “Oh my god! It's a tie! Who's tie? My tie? Your tie?” He had no clue what to say and backstage, people were shocked and in utter panic. Who would have thought of a TIE?

To be fair, there was a tie-breaker round. Aishwarya was asked an easy question to pick between Ridge Forrester of the American soap, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Mason Capwell of the equally popular soap, Santa Barbara, as a potential partner. Aishwarya went for Mason because “he has a very caring side and a terrific sense of humour and that gels with my character.” But Sushmita, just 19 then, was bowled a googly by judge, Ritu Kumar, who asked her what she knew of the textile heritage of India. Sush’s winning reply came, “It started off with Mahatma Gandhi's khadi and it's gone a long way since then. But the basics of the textile heritage lies there.” No one knew her strength was her speech…that she may not be as beautiful as Ash but she was charismatic in her own way.

 

THE POST-CROWNING MOMENT

While Aishwarya held her poise and calmly posed for the paparazzi, flashed her beautiful smile and kissed Sushmita Sen during the crowning, backstage, it was apparently a difficult moment for her. She reportedly ran to her dressing room, broke down and wept while a bunch of her friends were ready to console her. Francesca Hart, who was second runner up disappeared a few moments after the crowning moment and nobody knew where she had gone. Sushmita, not shocked that Ash had won, stood alone... 

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

 

Aishwarya Rai is married to Abhishek Bachchan and takes care of their daughter, Aaradhya. She is making her comeback with Sanjay Gupta’s Jazbaa and will also be seen in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor.

 

Sushmita Sen is busy travelling these days. On and off she still walks the ramp for fashion shows. She recently made her debut in the Bengali movie, Nirbak. The latest reports suggest that Sushmita Sen and Sonu Sood will judge the upcoming comedy show, Comedy Superstars, along with Shekhar Suman.

 

Mehroo Mistry-Turel: She has kept a relatively low profile. Moving from Mumbai to Hong Kong, she is living life to the fullest as both a mother and a homemaker.