Happy Birthday Sushmita Sen: Rare photos; unknown facts about former Miss Universe

Former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen, who made India proud in 1994, turns 40 on 19 November and still continues to charm with her personality.

Sushmita garnered massive appreciation when she adopted two beautiful girls, Renee and Alisah, and is raising them as a single mother.

Due to her young age, Sushmita was not given the permission to take the guardianship of her first adopted child. However, later the High Court redressed the appeal and the result went to her favour.

The model-cum-actress was the first Indian woman to win the Miss Universe crown in 1994.

There are many lesser known facts about the "Biwi No. 1" actress, take a look below:

• The gown she wore in the final round of the beauty pageant was not any expensive designer outfit, but was made by Sushmita's mother and a not-so-popular Meena Bazar tailor.

• Though, the actress made her debut in 1996, she won an award in 2000 for romantic-comedy film "Biwi No. 1", which also starred Salman Khan and Karishma Kapoor. It also got her a Filmfare, IIFA and Star Screen Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actress.

• Very few people know that Sushmita loves to write poems. It might be because her maternal grandfather was a poet.

• Farah Khan directorial "Main Hoon Naa" was the first film in which Sushmita wore a saree on-screen.

• Apparently Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was the first choice for the role of "Chandni," but due to tiffs with the film's actor Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita was roped in instead.

Check out the above slideshow of Sushmita's rare pictures.