'Negative comments about my weight did bother me'

The actress shows off a stunning figure in the 'Bebo' song from her upcoming movie 'Do Knot Disturb' but Sushmita, who is playing a housewife opposite Govinda, was required to look slightly plump in the first half of the movie.

Sushmita's fuller looks had invited a flood of negative articles during the shooting last year but the actress insists that she did not let herself feel "hurt" by what was being written about her.

"It (stories) did not hurt me as hurt is a very personal emotion and I don't take anything that is written about me personally. But it did bother me because it made me think about the shallowness of the society and the media," Sushmita said.

"It is not even about me. They were sending out a signal to the young people that you need to stay skinny to be defined as beautiful. I don't agree with that notion and I don't endorse it. I am size 4 but that does not mean that I am more beautiful than I was before," says Sushmita.

The 33-year-old former Miss Universe says that the negative stories about Bollywood stars less-than-perfect figure create a wrong impression on the youngsters, who believe that it is a requirement to be thin to look beautiful. Sushmita says that could not reveal the reason behind putting on weight as she was instructed by the producers against doing so.

"I was required to look plump in the first half of the movie and Vasu (Bhagnani) and David (Dhawan) did not want to say anything about the movie before the promotions and I respect their decision. It was a marketing strategy," she says. The actress is returning to the big screen after the disappointment of 'Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag' but that has not dampened her spirit as Sushmita is determined to make her presence felt.

"My films got delayed, some stopped midway but now I am ready to make my fans laugh with 'Do Knot Disturb' and 'Dulha Mil Gaya'," the actress says. 'Do Knot Disturb', which unites the successful comic duo Govinda and David Dhawan once again, is slated to release on Friday. Apart from Sushmita and Govinda, the film stars Lara Dutta, Reitesh Deshmukh and Sohail Khan.

The actress has done a variety of roles, be it playing a surrogate mother in "Filhaal", a single working mother in "Samay" or donning the role of a prostitute in Kalpana Lazmi's "Chingari", but Sushmita says her dream role is yet to come.

"The first prerequisite to be an actor is that you must be greedy. if you are not greedy then you don't grow here. I want to do so many other roles. I want to do that intensely mad love story, I still want to do that very deep rooted drama, I still want to do one full on rock band film and a mindblowingly, villainous role," Sushmita says.

The actress started her Bollywood career with Mahesh Bhatt's 'Dastak' in 1996, two years after winning the Miss Universe title. Since then she has starred in a number of commercial and non-commercial movies like 'Biwi No 1', 'Filhaal', 'Samay: When Time Strikes', 'Chingaari', 'Zindaggi Rocks', 'Main Hoon Naa', 'Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya'.