Bollywood Queens Star In Biopics

Two of India's beauty queen-turned actresses, Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, will star in separate movies about the life of Rani Lakshmibai, a fiery freedom fighter.

Rai announced last year she would play Lakshmibai in a film with well-known director Ketan Mehta, and Sen said recently that she too had decided to produce and star in a film on the same subject.

"Why should I shelve my film because Ash is playing Lakshmibai in Ketan Mehta's film?" said Sen in an interview published in the Mumbai Mirror newspaper Wednesday. Bombay, India's entertainment capital, is also called Mumbai. "She will do it in her own way and I wish her all the best."

Sen described it as her dream project and said she intended to train in horse riding and sword fighting to prepare for the film.

"Recreating the era will be difficult but not impossible."

Sen did not specify when she would start filming, but said the movie about the Indian queen, who fought against British colonial rule in the mid-19th century, would be filmed from the angle of Lakshmibai as a mother.

"She fought her battle as much as a mother as a queen. She didn't want the British to kill her adopted son, Damodar Rao," she said.

Sen was crowned Miss India in 1994 while Rai was the runner-up in the same competition. Both went on to win world pageants — Sen as Miss Universe and Rai as Miss World.

In an earlier interview with the same newspaper, Rai had spoken about her commitment to the film: "I would love to play the role of Rani Lakshmibai because I see her as a woman of strength, courage and affection."