When Aishwarya Rai claimed that media created 'tamasha' when she lost the Miss India title to Sushmita Sen

There are many reasons to celebrate the year 1994, but one of them is the fact that Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (formerly Aishwarya Rai) were named Miss Universe and Miss World, respectively, in this year. Indian beauty queens had won the Miss World competition in the past, but Sushmita's victory was the first time the nation had brought home the Miss Universe crown. 

Aishwarya and Sushmita both competed in the Miss India pageant that was held in Goa on January 16, 1994. In contrast to Sush, Aish was already a well-known name in the modelling and fashion industries. Sush was more of an underdog compared to Aish, who was highly popular with mentors and the media. Many people believed that Aishwarya will be named Miss India 1994. Nobody had anticipated that Sushmita Sen would defeat Aish and win the competition. 

So how did Sushmita manage to achieve this feat?

In Miss India Finale, Aishwarya was asked the question, “If you have to look for qualities in a husband, would you look for the qualities in Ridge Forrester from ‘The Bold & Beautiful’ or in Mason Capwell from ‘Santa Barbara’?” Aishwarya’s answer was, “Mason. They do have a lot in common, but from what we see, Mason has a very caring side to him, and a terrific sense of humour. And that really gels with my character.”

On the other hand, Sushmita was asked, "What do you know about the textile heritage of your country? How old has it been and what do you prefer to wear personally?" Sushmita's answer was, "I think it all started with Mahatma Gandhi's khadi. It has gone a long way since then, but the basics of Indian textile heritage has been from there." 

That was the answer that made Sushmita beat Aishwarya by a mere 0.2 percent. 

When Aishwarya was scheduled to compete in Miss World, she did not see the most positive signs all around her. Aishwarya had already discussed the startling parallels she found between the two incidents, beginning with the enormous expectations placed on her, in a previous interview with the BBC.

She said, "Uh oh, the signs are the same as Miss India, they were exactly the same. There was this whole level of expectations from me. Strangely and wonderfully, the same thing happened at Miss World. Even though you go as an absolutely non-entity. No one judges you there. You are representing your country. Within that month, I had become very very popular and there was a lot of Indian-international press. Among the select few contestants, I was billed as a very strong contestant and the possible winner. I thought this can't be happening again to me. I don't quite like the feel of it."

When Aishwarya lost the Miss India crown to Sushmita, she alleged that the media created a whole "tamasha" that pitted the two ladies against one another.