How one name - Aishwarya Rai - was enough to make 25 contestants pack up their dreams before the Miss India pageant even began.
India in 1994 - the air
buzzed with fresh ambition, satellite TV had just begun reshaping living rooms, and Bollywood was brimming with pastel chiffon dreams. Then came a name that tilted the atmosphere of every modeling agency and grooming school from Mumbai to Delhi: Aishwarya Rai.
Epitome of Beauty and Grace. Aishwarya Rai in 1994.
Already a household presence thanks to ad campaigns and that iconic Pepsi commercial, she had that rare type of calm confidence that made heads turn before she even spoke. So, when news broke that she’d officially entered the Femina Miss India race, panic rippled through the hopefuls. According to multiple reports, nearly twenty-five contestants dropped out immediately after seeing her name on the roster.
Aishwarya Rai crowned Miss World 1994
(@missindiaorg/Instagram)
Imagine the scene - girls clutching their forms, the faint hum of air conditioners in the background, and this sudden realization: Oh. She’s competing? Well then, maybe next year.
When Sushmita Almost Walked Away
Sushmita reveals how she almost withdrew her application for Miss India seeing Aishwarya participating.
(@thepageantglitz/Instagram)
It wasn’t just anonymous contestants. Even Sushmita Sen, the woman who would go on to steal both hearts and crowns, had cold feet. On Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai, she once laughed while confessing she almost withdrew too after hearing that Aishwarya would participate.
Her mother, however, gave her the kind of pep talk that mothers should really patent: “If you think she’s the most beautiful woman, then lose to her. But don’t run.” It’s the sort of advice that sounds simple until you remember it changed the trajectory of two careers and - let’s be honest - rewrote India’s pageant history.
Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai crowned Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively - 1994.
And yet, against that glossy, intimidating presence, Sushmita chose to stay. She re-entered, competed, and, in the unlikeliest twist of fate, won the Miss India crown while Aishwarya landed as first runner-up. History loves irony - and it served a gleaming platter that year when both went on to bag Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively.
The Aura of Aishwarya
Now, to understand why so many dropped out, you need context. Early '90s India didn’t have Instagram filters or PR agencies polishing narrative arcs. Beauty was visceral. People remembered faces, the tilt of a jawline, the grace in a wave. Aishwarya embodied that effortless recession-proof elegance.
She was already starring in top ads, her blue-green eyes becoming part of living-room conversations. The modeling world whispered her name like a warning label - "She’s the one to beat." For many, that wasn’t motivation; it was deterrence.
When you watch old footage from those contests, she radiates this impossible stillness - poise so intact that even silence seemed choreographed. That’s what made others fold. It wasn’t arrogance or intimidation - it was simply her presence.
No Rivalry, Just Destiny
People love to invent rivalries, don’t they? “Aish versus Sush.” But neither ever played that game. Both women have said, in their own ways, that there was admiration more than animosity. Sushmita once told interviewers that they were too busy focusing on doing their own thing to be enemies.
What’s interesting is how both paths unfolded - one towards the Miss World stage and a luminous film career that blended Cannes’ red carpets with Guru and Devdas. The other, an unapologetic evolution from Dastak to Aarya, charting her empire on her own terms. Two trajectories, equally electrifying, both born from the same pageant stage.
Aishwarya Rai, 1994.
Even now, decades later, the “Aishwarya effect” is referenced every time a new Miss India favorite emerges. The media still revisits that 1994 list of dropouts like it’s folklore. And maybe it is.Sometimes history isn’t about outcomes. It’s about fear, awe, and the courage that follows.
Those twenty-five women might’ve withdrawn - but their decision helped frame a legend. Because if one person’s name alone can spark that reaction, that’s not just beauty. That’s cultural gravity. And honestly, we’re still orbiting it. A very Happy Birthday to you, Aishwarya!
