Femina Miss India - Part 3

Here is my third Hub about the Femina Miss India pageant history, and the Bollywood actresses and Indian models that have had their careers advanced by it.
And if you are familiar with Bollywood, you may see more names here you recognize.
On this list, not every pageant winner went on to become an actress of model though.
And some of the winners even have MySpace and Facebook pages where you can keep up with them.
So here are the winners from 1995 to 2009 of the Femina Miss India pageant...

Manpreet Brar won the Miss India crown in 1995, and was the first runner-up at the 1995 Miss Universe pageant.
She was born on March 2nd, 1973 and has a MBA from Lady Irwin College, Delhi.

Sandhya Chib won the Miss India crown in 1996, and was a Top 10 finalist at the 1996 Miss Universe pageant.
She went on to become a successful model.

Nafisa Joseph was born on March 28th, 1978 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
She won Miss India in 1997, and went on to become a model and MTV video jockey.
Nafisa's story doesn't have a happy ending though, as she tragically hung herself on July 29, 2004 in her flat in Mumbai.

Lymaraina D'souza won Miss India in 1998.
She was a Top 10 finalist at the 1998 Miss Universe pageant.

Gul Panag was born on January 3rd, 1979 in Chandigarh, India.
She won the Femina Miss India title in 1999, and was a Top 10 finalist in the 1999 Miss Universe pageant.
Gul went on to become a model and Bollywood actress.
She has made nine movies since 2003, her first being Dhoop.

Lara Dutta was born on April 16th, 1978 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.
She won the 2000 Miss India pageant, and went on to win the Miss Universe 2000 pageant.
That same year, Priyanka Chopra won Miss World and Dia Mirza won Miss Asia Pacific, giving India it's first international beauty pageant "hat trick".
Lara went on to become a very successful Bollywood actress, with over thirty movies to her credit so far.

Celina Jaitley was born November 24th, 1981 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
She won Miss India in 2001 and like several other Femina Miss India she went on to become a Bollywood actress.
Celina has appeared in nineteen films, and has five films coming out in 2010.

Indian actress and model Neha Dhupia was born on August 27th, 1980, in Cochin, India.
Neha won the 2002 Miss India pageant, and was a Top 10 finalist at the 2002 Miss Universe pageant.
She also became a Bollywood actress, but before her Bollywood career, and before she won the Miss India pageant, she appeared in a 2000 Japanese movie, Nattu Odoru! Ninja Densetsu.
Neha has gone on to appear in almost thirty Bollywood films.

Born in 1983 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, Nikita Anand won the Femina Miss India pageant in 2003.
Unfortunately, when Nikita represented India at the 2003 Miss Universe pageant, she became the first Miss India since 1991 not to make it to the semi-finals.
She went on to make a few films later including The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006), The Memsahib (2006), Khallas: The Beginning of End (2007), Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee (2007) and Dil Dosti Etc (2007).

Tanushree Dutta was born on March 19th, 1984 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.
She won the Miss India pageant in 2004, and was a Top 10 finalist in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant.
Of course Tanushree Dutta went on to become a Bollywood actress, making her debut in the 2005 film Aashiq Banaya Aapne.
Before she won the Femina Miss India pageant, Tanushree was an anchor on the Bengali Show, Hoi Hullod in 2002.

Born in Pune, Maharashtra, India, Amrita Thapar won the Femina Miss India pageant in 2005.
Amrita didn't go on to Bollywood, but she is a successful fashion designer, stylist, painter, fashion writer and orator.
AND unlike a lot of the women here, you can actually connect with Amrita on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/amrita.thapar

Neha Kapur won the Miss India pageant in 2006, and was a Top 20 finalist at the 2006 Miss Universe pageant.
Neha also didn't go into acting, but she has a degree in fashion design from the Pearl Academy, and she is a runway model in India.
And while you can keep up with Amrita on Facebook, you can visit Neha's MySpace page her:
http://www.myspace.com/nehakapur

Puja Gupta was born on September 19th, 1984 in New Delhi, India.
She won the 2007 Miss India pageant, and was a Top 10 finalist at the 2007 Miss Universe pageant.
You can see more of this beautiful lady at her website here:
http://www.pujagupta.com/

Parvathy Omanakuttan was born on December 20th, 1987 in Changanassery, Kerala, India.
She won the Miss India pageant in 2008, and also won the categories of Miss Photogenic, Miss Personality, and Miss Beautiful Hair.
Parvathy went on to win the first ever Pantaloons Femina Miss India South pageant in 2008.

Another beauty from Pune, Pooja Chopra won Miss India in 2009.
She went on to become a Semifinalist at the 2009 Miss World (where she won the Beauty With A Purpose, formerly known as Miss World Scholarship, award)

Indian model Manasvi Mamgai was crowned Femina Miss India World 2010 on April 30th, 2010.
She was born on October 10th, 1987 in Delhi, India.
Manasvi represented India at the Miss World 2010 competition on October 30th, 2010 in Sanya, China, but didn't place.

Kanishtha Dhankar was born in Mumbai, stands five foot nine and a half, weighs in at 121 pounds and her measurements are 32-25-36.
Geez...it sounds more like she's a boxer!.
Kanishtha was crowned Pantaloons Femina Miss India on October 23rd, 2010.
Unlike some of the Femina Miss India winners, Kanishtha has already appeared in films, notably the 2008 Bollywood film Fashion with Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse and Arjan Bajwa.
She placed in the top fifteen at the Miss World 2011 competition on November 6th, 2011 in London.
Top 15?
I think she was robbed!