Sushmita Sen: Why ‘gold digger’ jibe caused outrage

Certainly one of India’s most-loved beauty queens has been in the attention of a social media thunderstorm recently.

Sushmita Sen, the first Native indian to win the particular Miss Universe name in 1994, has made a career as a successful Bollywood actress.

The 46-year-old, who has starred in a couple of dozen films, had been most recently seen playing the lead in the critically-acclaimed and well-known web series called Aarya.

Often described as smart, witty and intelligent, Sen offers won a number of renowned cinema awards and is widely regarded as the “woman of substance”.

But all of her achievements seemed to have been forgotten considering that Thursday night, whenever Lalit Modi – a 58-year-old businessman and founder of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the tour’s richest cricket competitors – announced upon social media that he is at a relationship with Sen, opening the floodgates to crass and misogynistic jokes.

Mr Modi, too, is a public personality – the architect of the wildly profitable IPL hit the particular headlines a decade back after the BCCI, India’s cricket board, falsely accused him of monetary irregularities and suspended him. Mr Modi, who has always refused the allegations against him, has been living in London for the past 10 years.

Sharing a number of romantic photographs from their recent vacations within Maldives and the Italian language island of Sardinia, he initially defined Sen as their “better half” then – after that set off rumours of relationship – edited it to read “my much better looking partner”.

Mr Modi, who have lost his spouse of nearly 30 years to cancer within 2018, said their relationship with Sen was “a new beginning, a new lifestyle finally” and that this individual was “over the moon”.

Right away, the internet went into overdrive – his write-up went viral, it had been picked up by information websites and congratulatory messages began pouring in.

The trolls too came in droves – highlighting their age gap, criticising Mister Modi for his appearance, calling him a “fugitive”, plus mocking him just for tagging Sen improperly on Twitter.

But the nastiest of commentary was reserved for your actress – the girl name trended upon social media, with many phoning her “greedy” and also a “gold digger” who had been dating Modi due to his money.

Her critics integrated Bangladeshi author-activist Taslima Nasrin, who wondered why Sen was now spending time along with “a very unappealing person” – “because the man is very wealthy? So was the lady sold to money? ”

“This sort of commentary is very problematic, ” states Namita Bhandare, writer and gender editor for news website Article 14 .

“What happens in a connection between consenting grown ups is no-one else’s business so trolling and value judgements are troubling. Yet it’s also bad information for all women, since it shows how easy it is to slip into this pattern of heaping indignities on women, pointing fingers with her. ”

The attention the relationship is getting was not entirely unexpected, taking into consideration Sen is a celebrity whose every proceed is tracked by fans and the push.

She has frequently made news for her “unconventional” life choices – at 24, just a few years after winning the Skip Universe crown, the girl adopted a daughter as a single mother, and a few years later on, a second girl. Sen regularly posts pictures with her children.

She has also never hidden her associations – over the years, she actually is dated fellow stars and, most recently, model Rohman Shawl with whom she broke up last year .

Yet as Ms Bhandare points out, news associated with her dates had been so far restricted to tabloids and gossip columns, and Mr Modi may not have anticipated the interest their addition would generate within India.

“He established the ball moving with his tweet on Thursday night. But he’s been top a low-key living in London, and the whole attention has been on her behalf, everyone is talking about her. ”

Sen has also obtained a lot of support on social media , with many pointing out that in the past, she dated men who had little money and that no-one called these types of men gold-diggers.

But with the inordinate scrutiny and commentary about their partnership continuing – memes and jokes asking her motives are now being shared not just upon social media but also handed around on WhatsApp – Sen replied on Sunday night with an Instagram submit.

“It’s tragic to see just how difficult & unhappy the world around us is becoming, ” she published.

“The friends I never had & the acquaintances We’ve never met…. all sharing their grand opinions & deeply knowledge of my life & character… monetising the ‘Gold Digger’ right!!! 😄👍 Ah these geniuses!!! ”

To those claiming that she was dating Mr Modi for his money, the celebrity – who as soon as endorsed a type of diamond jewellery and it is reported to be worth an estimated $10m their self – wrote a good apt reminder:

“I dig deeper than Gold… and I have always (famously) preferred Diamonds!! 😉😁❤️And indeed I still buy them myself!!! ”

It’s a response that has won the girl much applause within India.

“The WhatsApp jokes and the responses are disgusting and they’re perpetrating the traditional notion that it’s okay to help make fun of women, inch Ms Bhandare says.

“But she gets responded with so much maturity and sophistication. She has sent her love to those who’ve supported her and also wished well to people who don’t. ”