- As Sushmita Sen turns 50, here’s looking back at the historic moment that made her India’s first Miss Universe in 1994. The highlight of her win remains the iconic final question – “What is the essence of being a woman?”
- What was Sushmita Sen’s Miss Universe winning question?
- Sushmita Sen once spoke about her winning question
As Sushmita Sen turns 50, here’s looking back at the historic moment that made her India’s first Miss Universe in 1994. The highlight of her win remains the iconic final question – “What is the essence of being a woman?”
In 1994, there was a girl who dared to dream. She dreamt that one day, she would represent India on the global stage and clinch history by winning India’s first-ever Miss Universe crown. And so she did.
Sushmita Sen was crowned India’s first-ever Miss Universe on May 21, 1994. 31 years to the day, her fans and beauty pageant aspirants often go back to her winning question and remain in awe of how articulate her answer was. On Sushmita’s 50th birthday on November 19, let’s revisit her Miss Universe-winning question and answer.
What was Sushmita Sen’s Miss Universe winning question?
After a series of rounds, the question-and-answer session on Miss Universe often determines the final winner. 18-year-old Sushmita Sen, in 1994, was challenged with a seemingly easy but tough question: “What, for you, is the essence of being a woman?”
Sen, confident as always, answered, “I think being a woman is a gift of God which all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, and is a woman. And a woman is one who shares love and who shares and shows a man what love, caring, and sharing are all about. That is the essence of a woman.” With that, India got its first Miss Universe.
Sushmita Sen once spoke about her winning question
Years later, in 2022, Sushmita Sen was asked the same question by her daughter, Alisah’s school magazine. She replied, “You know what I loved about that question and that answer as I’ve looked back at it for so many years is that they never asked what the qualities of a woman or the attributes of a woman. They said, what is the essence of a woman?”
The Main Hoon Na actor also added that she was from a “Hindi medium school”, so she didn’t know a lot of English back in the day. “I don’t know how I understood what essence meant and answered that question with such clarity and such experience, even though I lacked it 18, I think God sat on my tongue and said, let this be said because this is how you will choose to live your life.”
On the work front, Sushmita Sen was last seen in OTT series Taali. Film-wise, she was last seen in the Bengali film Nirbaak in 2015.
Also read: Miss World 2025: Aishwarya Rai to Manushi Chhillar, check full list of Indian titleholders
