Miss India or Femina Miss India is a national beauty pageant in India, one of the most recognized contests to produce international beauty queens in the 90s, which annually selects three winners to compete globally. It is organized by Femina, a women's magazine published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

In 1995, the organizers of Femina Miss India decided to crown three winners to represent India in Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific, In 2002, the third winner was designated to Miss Earth instead of Miss Asia Pacific. In 2007, the organizers declared no more runners-up in the Femina Miss India contest; all 3 winners are equal. In the past, the winner of the Miss India Universe title was declared the winner of the pageant while the Miss India World was the runner up.^[1][2]

Hasleen Kaur, Kanishtha Dhankhar & Ankita Shorey,the winners of Femina Miss India 2011 celebrate after their crowning.

As of 2010, Femina Miss India relinquished the franchise to send a representative to the Miss Universe pageant, choosing instead to designate the third winner to represent India in Miss International instead, a contest that it has historically sent a finalist to.

The current Femina Miss India titleholders are Kanishtha Dhankhar as Femina Miss India World 2011, Hasleen Kaur as Femina Miss India Earth 2011, and Ankita Shorey as Femina Miss India International 2011.

International pageants

Miss India has been participating in the Miss Universe pageant since 1953, starting with Indrani Rehman; and in the Miss World pageant since 1959, starting with Fleur Ezekiel. There is no clause that stipulates that the winner of Miss India (or winner of a National Title) cannot participate in the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants in the same year. Historically, the Femina Miss India pageant sent the winner of the pageant to Miss Universe pageant, and Eve's Weekly, a rival women's publication sent the winner of its Miss India contest to Miss World, Miss Asia Pacific and Miss Universe. In the late 80s, Femina acquired the rights to send a representative to Miss World as well, and started to send the winner to Miss Universe and the runner-up to the Miss World contest. In 1995, following India's historic dual wins at both Miss Universe and Miss World, the custom of crowning a single winner was discontinued, and instead, the top three placers were each designated a winner, and crowned Femina Miss India-Universe, Femina Miss India-World and Femina Miss India-Asia Pacific. In 2002, the third title was changed to Femina Miss India-Earth, to designate India's representation at the newly launched Miss Earth pageant, focused on the cause of environmental advocacy. In 2007, the pattern of sending the highest placed contestant to Miss Universe was effectively reversed, with the winner going to Miss World and the first runner up to Miss Universe. In 2010, Femina Miss India decided to stop sending representatives to the Miss Universe pageant entirely, choosing instead to send a crowned winner to Miss International.

The awards for 1989 were given at the end of the year (December); hence there was no separate contest for 1990.

In 1994, Sushmita Sen won the Miss Universe title after winning the Miss India crown and became the first Indian woman ever to win the Miss Universe crown. The same year the runner-up of Miss India, Aishwarya Rai, won the Miss World title. Both Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai established themselves in the Bollywood industry after winning their titles.

The success of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen spawned coaching institutions which were set up to groom girls in pageant participation skills. The number of participants in the preliminary rounds of the pageant has increased considerably. Miss India World 1997, Diana Hayden won the title of Miss World 1997. Pageant winners are also groomed for months in preparation for the international contest. In 1999, the Miss India runner-up Yukta Mookhey went on to win the Miss World that year.

In 2000, three of the Miss India winners won their respective international pageants – Lara Dutta (Miss Universe), Priyanka Chopra (Miss World) and Diya Mirza (Miss Asia-Pacific). The only other country to have won all three major titles in one year was Australia in 1972.

In 2010, Nicole Faria became the first Indian to win the Miss Earth title in Vietnam, which leaves Miss International as the only major international pageant that has not been won by an Indian contestant, although India has placed as a runner up on numerous occasions.

Controversies

Controversies erupted in the year 2008 when President of Gladrags, Maureen Wadia served a legal notice to the newly crowned Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2008, Harshita Saxena for violation of a two-year exclusive contract with Gladrags which had been signed by Harshita in the year 2006. To participate in any other beauty pageant, Harshita would have required a written letter of no-objection from Gladrags. Earlier in an interview with CNN-IBN Maureen Wadia said, "Harshita Saxena from Goa is a Gladrags model. She was a part of my Megamodel Contract in April 2006. Her contract has not expired and Harshita has entered in some other contest before the contract has expired. The contract clearly said that they have to take my permission." Owing to this, Harsita had to give up the title and the crown passed on to Tanvi Vyas who represented India in the Miss Earth 2008 paegent held in the November of 2008.^[3] Harshita was later placed 4th in Miss India 2009 and represented India in Miss International 2009.

Starting in 2010, Femina Miss India relinquished the franchise to send a representative to the Miss Universe pageant. Tantra Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (TEPL) in collaboration with 1994 Miss Universe Sushmita Sen have started a new pageant called I Am She – Miss Universe India. The winner of this pageant will participate in the Miss Universe pageant.^[4]

Tragedy

A former Miss India Winner Nafisa Joseph committed suicide in July 2004, hanging herself in her Mumbai flat.

By number of wins

Representatives to Miss World

India did not send delegates in 1967, 1965, 1964, 1963

     Winner at Miss World

Representatives to Miss Earth

     Winner at Miss Earth

Representatives to Miss International

An Indian woman has never won the Miss International title and India did not send delegates to Miss International in 1963 -1967, 1972, 1977, 1989, 1990.

Representatives to Miss Universe

India did not compete in the Miss Universe for ten years from 1953–1963. A separate pageant, I Am She – Miss Universe India, was created to send contestants to Miss Universe from 2010 onwards.

     Winner at Miss Universe

Representatives to Miss Asia Pacific

Miss India used to send its third winner to compete in Miss Asia Pacific. Even though Miss Asia Pacific International was a prestigious beauty pageant, it wasn't conducted regularly and in 2006 ceased to exist. Since 2001 the Femina Miss India organization sent the third winner to the Miss Earth competition and the last candidate from Miss India to Miss Asia Pacific was Simran Chandok.

     Winner at Miss Asia Pacific International

References

External links

• Femina Miss India official website
• Femina Miss India Photos

v d e Miss India winners in the Grand Slam pageants Miss Universe Sushmita Sen (1994) · Lara Dutta (2000) Miss World Reita Faria (1966) · Aishwarya Rai (1994) · Diana Hayden (1997) · Yukta Mookhey (1999) · Priyanka Chopra (2000) Miss Asia Pacific Zeenat Aman (1970) · Tara Anne Fonseca (1973) · Dia Mirza (2000) Miss Earth Nicole Faria (2010) India • Panamá • Puerto Rico • USA • Venezuela