Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have always being pitted against one another. Though the two bring the house down when they are together, speculations of a cold war between the two have always made headlines.

However, contrary to the rumors and conjectures, the two beauty pageant winners have massive respect for each other and enjoy a warm vibe whenever they are under the same roof.

Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai
Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai

The honest response

However, there was a time when Sushmita Sen had got fiercely honest about her equation with Aishwarya Rai and vice versa. This was way back before the ladies were launched in Bollywood. Talking about her camaraderie with Aishwarya, Sen had told wildfilmsindia that the two never had the time to be friends or enemies. She added that the two of them were competitive, wanting to excel in their field.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen
Will Former Beauty Queens Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sushmita Sen to Work Together?Reuters

"We never had enough time to be enemies, rivals or friends. We were always people who knew each-other from a distance, we minded our own business. We were not the best-of-friends saying 'you first', 'please you first'. We always wanted to be the best in our own way, which we have proven to be. I went ahead and won Ms Universe, she went ahead and won Ms World. Neither of us were a second to anybody, we did our jobs and we did it well," Sushmita Sen said.

"No such thing as rivalry"

The Miss Universe further went on to say, "And that is one thing which I think people should keep in the back of their heads. We have rivalry for our own work saying, 'hey, I am doing this and I must be good at this.' You only compare people one against another when both are perfect. None of us are perfect, we both have started new career, we both have to work really hard to make a place for ourselves before we can start comparing. So there is no such thing as rivalry."