Why the ‘gold-digger’ jibe directed at Sushmita Sen should cause outrage: For Indians to call Sushmita Sen a national treasure wouldn’t be off the mark. The beloved former beauty queen continues to personify grace and dignity even as she faces a media storm over her relationship with IPL founder Lalit Modi. Might we remind the trolls who have brandished her a ‘gold-digger’ that this is the same woman who became the first Indian to win the Miss Universe title in 1994. Even as she took the plunge into Bollywood, Sen didn’t let societal rules dictate her choices, with the actress adopting her first child in 2000, when she was merely 24-years-old. Ten years after being a single mother to Renee, she chose to adopt a second girl child with Alisah. Putting her career on the backburner to be a parent to her children, Sen returned to the screen at 44, an age where most actresses in India are put out to pasture. Staging a thunderous comeback with the web series ‘Aarya’, now, two years later, Sen has found a partner in Modi. A choice she has made once again in a collective string of decisions that, frankly, few could fault. And even if someone objects to her association with Modi, there simply is no excuse to inundate a woman with misogynistic comments and hate. Instead of shaming a woman for choosing love, perhaps one needs to look within and find their humanity first. (Bindu Rai, Entertainment Editor)
twitter@LalitKModi