What Being Miss Universe Meant To Sushmita Sen

Brut India

When Sushmita Sen went back in time to the moment she became the first Indian to win Miss Universe...  Thanks to KKR Mind Studio for the footage.

Transcript

00:00Oh my God, my identity is not of Sushmita Sen, my identity is Miss India.

00:07Oh my God, India won Miss Universe for the first time in our lives.

00:12There's always somebody who inspires us.

00:15Do you have people that inspire you?

00:17Yes, I was 12 when I first realized what inspiration is.

00:23So my mother and father are watching TV.

00:26We had a black and white Texla TV back then.

00:30And I come downstairs and I find that the TV is on and both my mother and father are crying, watching something on TV.

00:40And it was the time when Rakesh Sharma went to space.

00:44And from there he was speaking to Mrs Indira Gandhi and saying,

00:49And her parents are sobbing, sitting in the living room on their couches.

00:58And I came out and I said, Baba, who is that?

01:01You know him?

01:03So he said, no.

01:05Then why are you crying? Who is he?

01:07So he said, he's someone who's made India proud.

01:11Okay, who is he?

01:14So my father was so emotional that instead of telling me that it was Rakesh Sharma,

01:18he turned around and said, he's famous.

01:22And it stayed in my head, the definition of famous,

01:26was that you make India proud, primary concern.

01:30Second is that you should be someone that has never met people, never known them in person,

01:38but that person comes on TV and can make you cry.

01:42So that became an all-important personal relationship that I wanted to have,

01:48being famous at the Miss Universe Contest.

01:51Both these things came together.

01:53It was a victory for India, like Rakesh Sharma going to space.

01:58And I had lots of people who sat by their TV screens crying.

02:03Some of them had never met me.

02:06Some of them probably will never meet me.

02:09But they formed a relationship that was magical.

02:13So, wow, you know, it's been a while.

02:16You're taking back a long, long time.

02:18I left India a month before 21st of May, 1994.

02:23And when I left India, I had the pressure of knowing that India in the last 48 years

02:30had never won Miss Universe.

02:34So obviously everybody kept telling me, you know,

02:37don't go with too much of expectations, you understand.

02:40India has never won Miss Universe.

02:42And there have been taller women than you, more beautiful women than you.

02:46So don't go with too many expectations.

02:49I didn't.

02:51I went there to just do my best.

02:53And that night, early morning actually, it was 4.30 in the morning in Manila,

02:59when they did announce my name as Miss Universe,

03:02I think the whole world saw the two eyeballs pop out in complete horror and shock.

03:09And I still look at that picture and I think to myself,

03:12oh my God, the whole world saw the first Indian to win Miss Universe looking like that.

03:18It could have been a nicer expression, you know,

03:21like a pretty eye finally winning Miss Universe.

03:24But that's actually how shocked I was.

03:27Moments after that, the realization dawned, Shiva.

03:31That oh my God, my identity is not of Sushmita Sen.

03:36My identity is Miss India.

03:39Oh my God, India won Miss Universe for the first time.

03:43You know, so I did applaud that on stage,

03:47because I suddenly went beyond the little bit of a personal quotient that you have,

03:57that oh my God, people are applauding me.

03:59No, no, no, no, people are applauding my country.

04:02And so I joined them because it was history.

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