Bollywoods seductress - Sushmita Sen

She was eighteen when the svelte, sexy Sushmita Sen walked the ramp for the first time and walked straight into.

The hearts of millions who were smitten by this `sure of herself` little gurl. She bagged the 1994 Miss Universe, becoming the first woman from India to win the title.

The dusky dame has gone through a series of crests and troughs in her Bollywood career. Here’s looking at her ‘not so beautiful` journey in tinsel town.

Sushmita Sen won the recognition one needs to enter the glam world but suddenly disappeared from the universe.

We heard that she had launched her clothes line in New York, but nothing much came of it. She returned to India after two years with.

A Bollywood flick, Dastak. The flick bombed at the box office but the Jadoo Bhari Aankhein Waali managed to steal hearts.

Her next attempt, Zor, will only be remembered for her dance number Main Kudi Anjaani Ho . With two Bollywood flops and one Tamil hit, Ratchagan, down South, it was about time Sushmita did some substantial role to leave a greater impact on the audiences.

This time around, the hot goddess danced her way into hearts with her hot number Dilbar Dilbar , from Sirf Tum where she played a sexy seductress and an item number in Fiza, Mehboob Mere , which made for a drooling watch. Her Chunri Chunri act in Biwi No 1. also made waves and won her several awards.

This was undoubtedly the high in Sush’s career. Offers came her way, big banners, great directors, but all failed and Sushmita was forgotten. Her career as an actress wasn’t working. After a lull, Sush returned, this time in a celebrity mother avatar.

Sushmita adopted a girl child in 2000 who was not in the best of her health. She named her Renee and thus became Bollywood’s first single mom! If anything, this only made her image grow hotter and made people notice.

But, with Sush around, could controversies be far behind? Her ‘alleged’ relationship with industrialist Anil Ambani made headlines in tinsleville. Sush hogged the limelight more for the men in her life than for her movies. It started with Vikram Bhatt, Sanjay Narang, Bunty Sachdev, Randeep Hooda, Manav Menon and the list never ended. Sushmita tried her hand at a variety of roles.

She did comedy film Kyunki Main Jhoonth Nahin Bolta opposite Govinda, when the latter was at the peak of his career. She played the suave corporate woman in Bus Itana Sa Khwab Hai and a thoughtful teacher in Aankhen . It was only in 2002 that she won accolades for her performance in Filhaal and got rave reviews for the convincing portrayal of her character in the film.

She then did a women oriented flick Paisa Vasool , where she was shown chain-smoking and drinking and dancing in films for a living. We hear, the character she played is close to what the real Sushmita is, with her being hooked on to drinking and smoking. Her big chance came in Farha Khan’s Main Hoon Naa with King Khan and once again became the talk of the town for her all new sexy look.

But her glory was short lived. Sushmita’s career as an actress didn’t seem to take off. She was last seen in Zindagi Rocks and Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag . Both the flicks didn’t really rock the box office. Aishwarya Rai, who came into limelight at the same time as Sushmita, has managed to keep her place amongst the most sorted after actresses in Bollywood today.

With actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Rani Mukherjee and Priyanka Chopra ruling the helm, what Sushmita needs is a good film that will re-establish her. Meanwhile, Sushmita is planning for her dream project Rani Laxmi Bai which she plans to produce and direct. Sush will also star in the film and is right now finalizing the star cast for the movie, which may see her pals Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Big B play important characters. But with the film’s humongous budget, chances of Sush finding a financier, are slim.

She came, she conquered and she was forgotten! From ramp to movies, it hasn’t been a cake walk for Sush. She has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Be it her relationships or the miserable flops, her life has been nothing less than a rollercoaster ride.

Sushmita, in the meantime, lost a close friend and gained pounds which an actress just cannot have. In the era of size zero, Sushmita faced a stiff task of keeping up the pace. But she surprised all with her new found sexy self in Govinda starrer Do Knot Disturb. Sushmita has a few key projects lined up; Dulha Mil Gaya starring Shahrukh Khan and Gulel with Ajay Devgn. It remains to be seen if these big banners will help Sush regain her lost glory!