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'Her hair wasn't brushed, she wore no make-up...'
In a first-person account on her blog, actress-activist Ashley Judd, who was in India in March, has praised actress Sushmita Sen in a big way.
An excerpt from Ashley's blog (action.one.org/blog/comments.jsp): "I was being joined by a stranger to me, but a beloved star to millions of Indians: Sushmita Sen, maverick yet firmly ensconced Bollywood star. I would be sharing my process with a woman I don't know, for the greater good of sex workers and their clients. For a person of Sushmita's stature to even deign to talk about this issue, much less hang out in a brothel, is absolutely shocking in Indian society. We picked her for her willingness to break with convention in her personal and professional life. She, as a single woman, adopted a daughter seven years ago, and has played roles of "immoral" women in films.
Typically, the big stars do not touch roles which are not unassailably virtuous. I'd been given a few internet links about Sushmita, which I declined to read. I do not read about myself, and I refrain from reading about others, too. I didn't know what to expect at all. I sat in an austere room with nothing but a chair. A tall, dark-haired woman in a lovely pale blue sari came in and immediately captivated me with her womanly brilliance. She has that remarkable self-belief, and answers to the enigmatic questions I don't dare touch on, stuff about being a woman in this world and other things that leave me tongue-tied. Maybe it's the same stuff I talk about, but with a different vocabulary. She asked me a few questions about my work. She was focussed, clear-eyed, intent, attentive, dazzling. She smoked, waving cameras away. She'd worked until 3 a.m., and told me a bit about her life. She seemed to have a lot of staff around. I saw them flitting in the hallway, yet her hair wasn't brushed; she wore no make-up. Her only dressed-up detail was long, lilac fingernails. Yet she oozed that 'It' factor of confidence, poise, carriage and jaw- dropping eyebrows!"
Sushmita Sen responds
Sushmita is delighted by Ashley Judd's lavish compliments. "I'm floating in the clouds. This was the first time that I interacted with an organisation that works so closely with sex workers. Ashley has been working with them for five years. I'm a newly-converted novice in front of her. To see someone as special as her being so keenly interested in working at the grassroots level is so admirable," she says.
Sushmita admits Ashley made her feel special. She says, "Yes, Ashley made me feel very special. Here was a woman coming all the way from America. The only real common ground we shared was that we were both actors. She was so humane in her approach to me."
Sushmita's voice dances with mischief. "The very fact that she wrote a blog like that proves how secure she is within her space and how comfortably she deals with the world around her. Personally, I think praising another human being, complimenting them for their qualities, should come naturally to all of us. I don't think it's just about an actress praising another actress. That's too shallow a concept for me. For me, it's always about one human being reaching out to another."
Ashley seems to have made great contact with Sushmita. Encouraged by the experience of fraternising with sex workers, Sushmita now intends to carry the good work forward. "I've never been affiliated with another specific charitable organisation. I've always questioned this enforced prioritising of humanitarian work. What gives anyone the right to decide that one cause is more vital than another? So far I've gone by my instinct. I didn't want to endorse a cause through any organisation. I've always thoroughly checked the authenticity of every charitable institution I've been affiliated to," explains Sushmita.
But now Sushmita realises that an organisation can give great legitimacy to a cause. "People like Ashley devote a major part of their life to looking after under-privileged people. We spend fifteen minutes doing photographs with them and feel so good about ourselves. I've decided spreading the good word about the good work is as important," she says.
Jodha Akbar
15