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After winning the Miss Universe crown, Sushmita Sen made her Bollywood debut with Mahesh Bhatt’s Dastak. In the film, she played herself—Sushmita, the winner of Miss Universe pageant—who becomes the target of a psychotic stalker. The movie was written by Vikram Bhatt, who frequently interacted with Sushmita on set, briefing her about the scenes. During the film’s production, Sushmita and Vikram fell in love, despite Vikram being married to his childhood sweetheart, Aditi Bhatt, at the time. Aditi and Vikram also have a daughter, Krishna Bhatt.
In an earlier interview, Mahesh Bhatt, who called Vikram his ‘right-hand man’ during the making of Dastak, shared how he witnessed their romance unfolding in Seychelles. Speaking to ETimes, he said, “During the making of Dastak, Vikram’s romance with Sushmita started in Seychelles. Vikram was my right hand and used to be at the forefront, doing most of my work. So, he used to interact with her more vigorously. That’s how the romance began.”
Interestingly, Sushmita — who turns 49 today — and Vikram didn’t initially get along while working on Dastak. In an old episode of Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Sushmita called Vikram the ‘biggest snob’ and accused him of frequently complaining about her to Mahesh Bhatt. On his part, Vikram admitted he wasn’t particularly fond of Sushmita at first, citing her tendency to change his dialogues and accused her her of ‘having an attitude.’
Recalling their initial friction, Sushmita said, “He came to me running on the set one day when I broke my finger and this was the time, I couldn’t stand him. This is towards the end of the film. I thought he had something personal against me because he would keep complaining about me to Mahesh Bhatt.” She added, “After that, we started talking and became friends. We ended up in an affair long after. It was a slow chemistry.”
When asked if Vikram was married when their affair began, he clarified, “Not when we started seeing each other but when we started working with each other. Before the chemistry set in, I was married.” Sushmita added, “His wife and he were not living together. I can’t condemn a man or make him feel guilty if he had a bad marriage. I don’t have anything against his ex-wife or his daughter. Some things aren’t meant to be. I don’t feel guilty because I have done something very openly. He was in a divorce when I met him, and I wasn’t going to wait to tell the world that I love him just because he hadn’t got through the divorce yet.”
Sushmita and Vikram’s relationship didn’t last long, and they parted ways after a few years of dating. Vikram later revealed that his 2006 directorial Ankahee was a ‘semi-fictionalised’ depiction of his relationship with Sushmita while he was married. Despite their breakup, Vikram and Sushmita continued to support each other. When Sushmita faced trolling and was called a “gold digger” for dating businessman Lalit Modi, Vikram came to her defence.
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