- Geeta Pandey
- BBC News, Delhi
image source, Getty Images
One of India’s most loved beauty queens has recently become the talk of the town on social media.
Sushmita Sen, the first Indian to win the Miss World title in 1994, has since carved out a career for herself as a successful Bollywood actress.
He is 46 years old and has acted in about 36 films. Recently she acted as the heroine in the web series ‘Arya’. It earned Sushmita Sen more recognition in the digital and OTT world.
He is known in the Bollywood world for being intelligent and having a sense of humor. He has won many prestigious film awards in his film career.
Meanwhile, Lalit Modi, the 58-year-old businessman and former founder of the world’s richest cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), announced his relationship with Sushmita Sen on his social media page last Thursday night. After that, all the achievements of Sushmita in the film industry till that day seemed to be forgotten.
Disgusting jokes were posted on social media pages about the relationship between these two.
Lalit Moti is widely known among the public. The successful concept of IPL was born from his brainchild. A decade ago, he was suspended by the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI) for financial irregularities. Since then he has been in the headlines more and more.
Lalit Moti, who has always denied the allegations against him, has been living in London for the past decade.
He recently vacationed in the Maldives and the Italian island of Sardinia, where he shared intimate romantic pictures with his partner Sushmita Sen on his social media pages.
Moti made his relationship with Sushmita public
First, his “better half” Sushmita went and described Lalit Moti. Later – rumors of marriage abound – he corrected an earlier post saying “my best partner”.
Lalit Moti lost his wife to cancer in 2018. On this occasion, he captioned his relationship with Sushmita Sen as “a new beginning, finally a new life”, adding that he was “over the moon”.
Overnight, the internet made the couple’s relationship go viral globally. Various popular websites and news agencies have taken turns airing his social media posts. After that, congratulations started pouring in from many quarters for Lalit Moti and Sushmita.
Along with that, many started trolling and teasing the couple. Some also mocked and criticized Lalit Modi’s image, pointing out the age difference between the two, tagging him as “a fugitive from the country”.
But the worst criticism was Sushmita Chennai, who some called “greedy” and “exploiting the gold digger”. Some called her dating Moti for money.
Prominent among his critics was the Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasrin.
“Why is Sushmita Sen spending time with someone she’s not attracted to? Is it because he’s rich? So has he sold himself out for money?” he asked. Taslima had severely criticized that.
Such criticism is very problematic, said Namitha Bandare, editor of the gender affairs section of the news website Article 14.
“What happens in a relationship between two adults is nobody’s business. So trolling and measuring values is always a problem. But it’s bad news for all women because it’s hard to get away from this kind of finger-pointing and criticism on women,” says Namitha Bandare.
image source, Getty Images
Sushmita Sen became the first Indian woman to wear the Miss Universe crown in 1994.
With Sushmita Sen being a celebrity with fans and the press tracking her every move, the attention this relationship is getting is not entirely unexpected.
Sushmita is often in the news for her “unconventional” life choices. At the age of 24, a few years after winning the Miss Universe crown, she adopted a daughter out of wedlock. A few years later, he adopted a second daughter. Sushmita Sen regularly shares pictures with her two daughters.
He never hid his relationship with them. Over the years, she has dated many of her co-stars. Most recently, she dated model-actor Rohman Shaul and broke up last year.
But reports of Sushmita dating till now came only in magazines and gossip columns. But, says Namita Bhandare, even Lalit Modi would not have expected that the relationship between the two of them would grow to this extent in India.
“Lalit leaked his relationship with Sushmita through Lalit Moti’s tweets on Thursday night. But he is living a low-key life in London. Now all eyes are on Sushmita Sen in India. Everyone is talking about her,” says Namitha.
Meanwhile, many people are expressing their support for Sushmita Sen on social media. Namita also pointed out that in the past, when she dated men with less money, no one called them gold diggers.
But as the over-evaluation and criticism of their relationship continued, Sushmita Sen finally reacted through her Instagram post on Sunday night.
“It is heartbreaking to see how miserable and unhappy the world around us is becoming,” he said in it. “Friends I never had and people I never met….all sharing their best opinions and deep knowledge of my life and character… ‘gold mining’ and making money!!! ???????? these nerds mention!!!” said Sushmita. has told.
I say this to those who say I am dating Moti for money. I’ll pass the gold and dig deeper. Because I prefer diamonds to gold. Even now I buy the same, said Sushmita.
Sushmita’s post has earned her a standing ovation in India. “The WhatsApp jokes and comments about Sushmita are derogatory. They seem to reflect the traditional idea that it is okay to make fun of women,” says Namita Bandare. He has given love in return even to the unloved,” notes Namita Bhandare.
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