A lot has been spoken about Sushmita Sen's love life ever since Lalit Modi made his relationship with the Bollywood actress public. Some nameless-faceless people on the internet have been calling Sushmita a 'gold digger' for being in a relationship with Lalit. Well, what a patriarchal way to put it in. Sushmita, like the star that she is, put all trolls to rest as she penned a long note on Sunday evening. Soon after, her ex Vikram Bhatt came out in support of the actress.

Now, Mahesh Bhatt has defended the actress and also revealed how her relationship with Vikram began. Mahesh said that he has great respect for Sushmita and her ability to be brave. He said, "I always remember her fondly. She was an unusual girl. What I salute her for is that she has lived her life on her own terms. She has the guts to live on her own dictates. My personal belief is that we must in the second decade of the 21st century give human beings the right to live life on their own terms. And also if you don't want somebody else to impose his or her own views and beliefs on you and let you live your life then you must also not do the same to somebody else. I think she has always been a person who has followed her heart and lived her life on her own terms."

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Mahesh recalled his first meeting with Sushmita after she won the Miss Universe crown. He said, "The first time I heard about Sushmita was through a friend of mine who said that Miss Universe has expressed her desire to be directed by you in one of her interviews in one of our national dailies. It was only then that I looked at her picture. But the images of Miss Universes or Miss Worlds do not give you an idea about what they are. Since I was all the time looking for new people and new challenges to make movies, I decided to meet Sushmita. She was very warm and unusual by the standards of the film industry because she did not have the attributes that a normal film heroine has."

He also remembered offering Sushmita a chance to work in Dastak and how her relationship with Vikram started. He added, "I gave her an idea of Dastak and she instantly said yes. And the rest was history. But during the making of Dastak, Vikram's romance with Sushmita started in Seychelles. Vikram was my right hand and used to be at the forefront, doing most of my work. So, he used to interact with her more vigorously. That's how the romance began. I met her only once when she was going to Kolkata to dub Srijit Mukherjee's film which she had acted in. She once again spoke to me warmly."