Sushmita Sen took a break from acting after her film No Problem (2010) to take care of her second daughter Alisah, only to return to screens with the web series, Aarya in 2020. In 2010, Sushmita started the project, I Am She – Miss Universe India, to choose girls to send to the international beauty pageant.

Talking about how she came about taking on the Miss Universe franchise in India, Sushmita told Mid-day’s Mayank Shekhar, “I do have bills to pay and I am a single mom, so, we did have Renee Jewellers, which is a jewellery brand we have all over the Middle East, we are in Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, so we were looking into that, and meanwhile I was doing some endorsements and the Miss Universe Organisation called me and said would you like to take the franchise?"