India's beauty queens past and present

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1966: Reita Faria


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Reita Faria was the first Indian woman to win Miss World in 1966. She entered the Miss Bombay without expecting to win - but win she did, strutting her stuff in a swimsuit, and jetted to London to fly the flag at the Miss World contest. She impressed the judges with a winning combo of brains and beauty and walked away with the title.

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She refused many film offers, choosing to become a doctor, and now lives in Dublin with her family – husband, two children and five grandchildren.


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1994: Aishwarya Rai


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Queen of hearts Aishwarya Rai lost the Miss India crown to dark horse Sushmita Sen but went on to take Miss World fairly easily in 1994. She also won Miss Photogenic and took the crown as crowd favourite with a huge average score of 9.11.

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She returned to India riding high on a wave of Bollywood offers and never looked back after Mani Ratnam's Iruvar. The lighteyed beauty is now happily married to Abhishek Bachchan and has even made inroads into Hollywood.


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1997: Diana Hayden

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Diana Hayden became Indian Miss World #3 and also tried to take the filmi route post her win. She studied acting at RADA in the UK and made her debut with the South African film version of Othello.


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Bollywood proved less welcoming and Diana tried her hand at reality TV as a contestant on Bigg Boss.



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1999 Yukta Mookhey


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Yukta Mookhey was Miss World in 1999 beating out stiff competition from Miss Venezuela and Miss South Africa.


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She failed to set Bollywood on fire and is now happily married with 1 son.


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2000: Priyanka Chopra


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Desi Girl Priyanka Chopra was close on Lara Dutta's heels in the 200 Miss India pageant and went on to win Miss World. She became the 5th Indian woman to take the crown, and the 4th in a span of 7 years.


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She took the tried and tested Bollywood road and went places with hit after superhit including Dostana and the recent Anjaana Anjaani. She's also taken TV by storm by stepping into Akshay Kumar's illustrious shoes as host of Khatron ke Khiladi


Source: NDTV Good Times