Actresses who wanna be film producers —Dia Mirza, Ameesha Patel and Tabu could do well to take note of what happened to the trendsetter, actress Sushmita Sen.

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The actress has reportedly failed to find financiers for her two pilot women-centric projects — a film on the legendary warrior-queen Rani Laxmi Bai and a biopic on the late Pakistani politico, Benazir Bhutto. These films would apparently have launched the former beauty queen as a filmmaker and director.

Since the announcement of of the projects were, Sushmita, apparently, met at least 20 film financers for them, but to no avail. What has been keeping these financiers from committing to her films?

“These projects demanded a huge budget. Even if you go by conservative estimates, one film would cost us Rs150 crore. I don’t think anybody in this market would be ready to invest that kind of money. So we told her that she has to tone the budget down. Eventually, the talks fizzled out and Sen informed us that the film has been shelved,” says a producer.

The actress, apparently, was even told to take another director, but she couldn’t foresee anybody but her directing the film.

Sen had also, apparently, admitted on the sidelines of an event that her film is “put on hold indefinitely”. “The film (Rani Laxmibai) has been put on hold till I get the necessary funds,” the actor reportedly said, adding that she would compromise on the budge even if it was dubbed as an expensive proposition.

“It’s my first home production and a dream. I cannot compromise with it in any way,” she said adding  that the script, the storyboard and “everything else is ready.”

Her other project, the biopic on Benazir Bhutto too met with the same fate as the producers apparently found it too controversial and non-commercial for a Bollywood film. Even if she manages some funds, the film is unlikely to take off without permission from Benazir’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari.

Sources, say that Sen, who was planning to play Benazir. had approached Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) for permission to make the film.

“The PPP has issues with the film and they don’t want the film to be made. Sushmita has still sent them feelers that she is keen to make the film but there has been no response from Asif Ali Zardari or the party members yet,” adds a source.