Is Sushmita Sen going the Parveen Babi Way? Well, that’s the lead story of a popular gossip magazine for January. Sushmita has led a checkered life. Hoisted on the Miss World stage at age 19, a somewhat successful Hindi film career, a lucrative modeling career, adopting daughter Renee against all odds and a string of affairs (that she never denied), Sush has led her life very much on her own terms and conditions. So, why is she being labeled as a possible candidate for Schizophrenia (a mental disease that afflicted Parveen and eventually she succumbed to it)?

The gossip magazine gave an account how Sushmita fired more than half a dozen employees at her home. The beleaguered employees obviously spitted venom against their former madam whom they had been serving for the last many years. Her behaviour was cited as irregular and fiery at times. Sen who has been going through a tough time with talks about her current flame Manav Menon ditching her for work and her last big release ‘Zindaggi Rocks’ coming in for stringent criticism. There have been reports about her getting back with former boyfriend Randeep Hooda as well. Hooda on his part gets majorly irked when asked about his current relationship status with Sen.

Sushmita on her part has stated that her staff had been bungling for quite some time and taking advantage of her. She also feared for her daughter Renee’s security. On the other hand it has also come to light that Sush is providing full support the family (wife and two children, also afflicted with HIV) of one of her former employees who recently died due to AIDS. Sush is ensuring that her employee’s wife gets proper medical attention which enhances her life span by another five to seven years.

Sushmita Sen has always been associated with various causes and is more or less known for high professionalism (a few hawala transactions and evading car duty are a few of her excesses). Somehow, the question rises, that is it fair to target a celebrity to enhance the publication’s sale (that particular gossip magazine is being launched in Germany with this edition)? The question also rises that why don’t the film stars take a serious action against such erring publications. One example of heavy compensation will be a deterrent to others. Or, do they lack faith in the judiciary (Preity Zinta’s defamation suit case against a Mumbai tabloid is going on-n-on and the tabloid never leaves a chance to target Zinta in one way or the other)?

It’s time the stray film associations come together and do something about this situation. Indian films are getting recognized the world over and the film stars are enjoying an ambassador’s status. It’s time for some transparency, accountability and responsibility (on part of the stars as well as the media). Don’t you agree?