NEW DELHI:

Sushmita Sen says she is very unlike the diva she portrays on screen - she is still a child deep inside trying hard to pretend she is grown up while adopted daughter Renee is more matured, and this helps them strike a beautiful chord.

“I’m essentially quite a child pretending to be a grown up in front of the world. I think she (Renee) is a lot older than me. She understands things beautifully,” she said on the sidelines of a news conference recently in New Delhi “You should meet me in my house and see how I behave and then you will ask yourselves, is this the person we refer to as the diva, the actress? We (she and Renee) are different from each other and it is this that helps us strike a great balance.”

The former Miss Universe has taught her daughter to be brave. She said, “It is not easy being my daughter. She goes to school and then she gets to hear that she is not really my daughter, but she is very brave. When I adopted her she knew what being adopted means, so she knows that she is adopted and is handling it well with replies like she is born from the heart while everyone is born from the stomach.”

The 31-year-old svelte actress is currently occupied with Dulha Mil Gaya with Shah Rukh Khan and Ram Gopal Varma’s Aag.

Dulha Mil Gaya is Sushmita’s second film with Shah Rukh and she says it will show the world her real self. “It is a complete entertainer from frame one to the end. We have really worked hard for it. I can assure you that you will laugh your lungs out,” she said. “But the best part is the character I play in the film is essentially me.”

However, the actress is more excited about her own production Jhansi Ki Rani and said the project is very close to her heart.

“I feel with time we have forgotten Rani Jhansi and what she stood for. The film is not about glorifying a religion or something. It is about glorifying humanity and celebrating that” she said. The production of the film is scheduled to start by the end of next year and will see its release in 2009.