Sushmita Sen recalls Mahesh Bhatt 'publicly attacking' her on the sets of Dastak; read on

The actor told Twinkle Khanna that Mahesh Bhatt had insulted her in front of many people to bring out the anger in her for a shot.

Sushmita Sen in a still from Dastak

After winning the Miss Universe competition in 1994, Sushmita Sen made her acting debut in Mahesh Bhatt's 1996 film Dastak. Prior to that, she had never even performed in a theatre. Mahesh Bhatt offered the actor the role of a beauty queen in the movie despite her protests that she lacked acting skills. She has recently spoken out about how Mahesh, by disparaging her acting abilities in front of numerous people, "destroyed her ambition."

Sushmita played a Miss Universe in Dastak who fell prey to a stalker played by Sharad Kapoor. Mukul Dev played the lead role in the movie.

In an interview with Twinkle Khanna, Sushmita spoke about the incident that caused her to become extremely enraged after Mahesh Bhatt insulted her. She said that he is a fantastic director and she would grant him that, but he shattered a promise to publicly attack her in front of 20 production workers and 40 members of the media.

The actor recalled saying that she broke down in tears and told Bhatt that she couldn't act; why did he call her for this as she had no idea how to act? Sushmita said that he's acting like Miss Universe on television and saying, "What has she brought me and she can't act for life."

The actor became quite enraged and began to leave the set. Bhatt simply yanked her hand away from him and she told him, "No, you don't talk to me like that." He attempted to hold her hand. As Sushmita turned to go, he grabbed it once more and shouted, "That's anger!"

The actor then delivered the scene in which she hurls her earrings and other jewelry into the trash out of rage. She also lauded Bhatt for his abilities as a director, but she and Twinkle connected over how often female performers were made to cry by directors in the 1990s.

In her film career, Sushmita has made significant progress. She later appeared in several movies, such as Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, Biwi No 1, Fiza, Aankhen and Main Hoon Na. After 2010, she stopped making movies, but in 2020, she made a stunning comeback with the web series Aarya in which she also stars as the series' main character. In 2021, she returned for the second season of the series and was once again appreciated for her acting prowess.

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