New Delhi: This is about the time when even the best models failed in front of Aishwarya Rai's beauty. Some people used to step back just on hearing Aishwarya's participation in beauty pageants. However, there was an actress who had no knowledge of modeling, but still she defeated Aishwarya. This actress was Sushmita Sen.

Yes, when Aishwarya Rai was already a big name in the modeling world, Sushmita was just trying to make her place. It was the year 1994. There was Miss India Beauty Pageant and Aishwarya Rai was also going to participate in this beauty pageant.

25 girls were scared of Aishwarya's name

On hearing Aishwarya Rai's name, not one or two but 25 girls withdrew their names. When Sushmita Sen came to know about this, she too got scared and withdrew her form. The actress herself revealed this on late actor Farooq Sheikh's show 'Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai'.

Sushmita Sen had also taken a step back

On Farooq Sheikh's show, Sushmita Sen had told that when she went to submit her form for Miss India, someone told her, "This time 25 girls have withdrawn their names from Miss India, think, do you want to do it or not?" When Sushmita asked the person the reason, he said, "This time Aishwarya Rai is participating in Miss India."

I was beaten by my mother

Sushmita Sen said, "I said, 'Give me my form back too. I don't want to go either. Ash (Aishwarya) knows this because I told her that I had quickly withdrawn my form. I said, she is very beautiful and the rest of the world knows her. I don't want to go. I came home and got beaten up by my mother."

Last minute bump given to Aishwarya

Sushmita Sen further said, "He said, 'What kind of a way is this? You have given up even before trying. So okay let her win, if you think she is the most beautiful girl then don't lose to her and what is the use of losing to anyone else. Go and give your best.' Then I went the next day and made a last minute entry and then what happened after that, I remember it till today."

Sushmita Sen told that she did not think that she would win the beauty pageant. When Aishwarya Rai's name came in the first runner-up, she cried that she could not even become the first runner-up. However, later she became the winner of Miss India. In the same year, Aishwarya Rai won the title of Miss World and Sushmita won the title of Miss Universe.