Miss India Asia-Pacific Quest Titleholders
and Miss Earth Delegates
Miss Asia-Pacific and Miss Earth are both pageants held annually in the Philippines. Miss Asia-Pacific Quest has been in existence since the 1960's and has been open to contestants from the entire Asian continent (from Turkey to Indonesia) and any nation touching the Pacific ocean (Chile, Australia, Canada, and so forth). While the title is still important, it has lost prestige over the years, with money quickly running out of the contest. In 2001, the organizers of Miss Asia-Pacific, Carousel Productions, sold their pageant to new ownership and began the Miss Earth Quest, intended to be a beauty pageant supporting environmental issues. Miss Asia-Pacific has been quickly re-vitalized under new management in the past couple of years, but the Miss Earth Pageant has had a difficult start due to negative attention on the contest. Meanwhile, Femina Miss India has started to send their third winner to this contest, in hopes of clinching a new title.
How did these women fare at the international rounds? Check it out at Indian Pageant Success
Miss India Asia-Pacific Titleholders
1968: Annabella Crawford Miss Talent
1969: Tasneem Fakir Mohammed
1970: Zeenat Aman
- Miss Photogenic, Miss Asia-Pacific 1970
1971: Urmila Sanandan
1972: Samita Mukherjee
1973: Tara Anne Fonseca
- Not much is known about India's SECOND Miss Asia-Pacific winner, but a Filipino newspaper comments that after winning the title, she made a Filipino film and supposedly returned to India to pursue films. It is not believed that she worked in Bollywood at all. In fact, her whereabouts seem to be generally unknown, although it seems that she married a Goan (like herself) husband who is big in the banking sector and moved to America.
1974: Marilyn Theresa Ferreira
1975: Seema Marwaha
1976: Anna Bredmeyer Second Runner-Up
1977: Marianna De Souza First Runner-Up
1978: Preeti Rappiker Best National Costume; Miss Talent
1979: Maureen Lestourgen First Runner-Up
1980: Upneet Pannu
1981: Meehjabeen Ayub Khan Miss Talent
1982: Aparna Sharma
1983: Monica Lakhmana
1984: Anna Varghese
1985: Seema Malhotra
1986: Unknown
1987: Queenie Singh
1988: Unknown
1989: Unknown
1990 - 1991: No International Pageant Held
1992: Unknown
1993: Namrata Shirodkar - As the third Miss India winner was not available for the pageant, Namrata tried her hand at Miss Asia-Pacific and barely missed the title, finishing First Runner-Up. She moved on from her modelling career to launch into the Indian film industry.
1994: Shweta Menon - Shweta finished as a finalist in the 1994 Miss India Pageant, and ended up modelling for risque ads. Now that she has had some guest roles in a few films, she is now signed for some important projects, including a film about sex workers to release next year.
1995: Ruchita Malhotra (Makhni) - With a degree in Interior Design, Ruchi was a top-notch ramp model at the time. She finished First Runner-Up at the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest. She slowly dropped out of modelling for a lack of interest and became a television anchor. She is now the CEO of Empress Club in Delhi.
1996: Mini Menon - Mini completed her Ph. D in Communications, held a job with CNBC and now works on CNN.
1997: Divya Chauhan, Delhi - Opitng out of the glamour world, Divya used her title to establish her own export firm and then proceeded to get married. Her new project in a kidwear business. She also works with several causes, including a movement against child labor. She finished First Runner-Up at the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest.
1998: Vithika Agarwal, Bangalore - A multimedia student prior to wining, Vithika's goals are to have a family and start a business. She models in the meantime.
1999: Shivangi Parikh, Mumbai - An ex-Miss Mumbai and Literature graduate, Shivangi decided against a Science career and enrolled in a Fint Arts Program, and has now moved on to a writing program, topping exams while still holding her beauty queen duties.
2000: Diya Mirza Handrich, Hyderabad
- Diya is half-Bengali, half-German and studied at Vidyaranya and Nasr schools. she soon took up a job with a computer firm, being offered a marketing position. Naturally Fair and Lipton’s Yellow Label Tea campaigns were among her first. She won the Miss Asia-Pacific Title in Manila in 2000, but was quick to sign films, such as Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Main. She has gotten good reviews, but her films are still struggling for success.
2001: Maheshwari Thyagarajan, Chennai - Armed with a B.A. in English and a certificate in French, Maheshwari is also an small-time model and has ambitions including pursuing an MBA. Her whereabouts after her reign was unknown.
2002: Tina Chhatwal, Delhi - Tina is now a qualified Dental surgeon and part-time model. She finished Second Runner-Up at the Miss Asia-Pacific Quest.
2003: Shonal Rawat, Kolkata - A 22 year-old, 5'11"-beauty, Shonal finished in the Top 9 of the Femina Miss India contest and then moved to Mumbai to pursue a more lucrative modelling career. She has already done numerous shows, ads and acted in a few projects, as well, given her incredible height. She replaced Parmita Katkar as India's representative to Miss Asia-Pacific 2003, where she won a slew of awards and finished First Runner-Up in a closely-contested race.
2005: Simran Chandhok, Chennai - Model.
2006: Gwen Athaide, Mumbai
Miss India Earth
Shamita Singha, 2001
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Reshmi Ghosh, 2002
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Swetha Vijay, 2003
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2001: Shamita Singha, Mumbai - Shamita competed in Femina Miss India 1999 where she was ajudged "Miss Personality" but failed to make the Top 9. She came back in 2001 for a second try, but only hit the Top 15. She was an English graduate pursuing a Business Management Degree at the time, and had started a lucrative modelling career with her incredible looks and tall frame (5'9"). Femina, seeing the lost potential, signed her up for the first Miss Earth contest in 2001. She was the hot favorite for the title, picking up awards for Best Eveningwear, Best National Costume, Miss Lux and so forth. However, a big shock came to the audience as she was not among the Final Four contestants, but merely a semi-finalist. Shamita continues to model, focusing more on ramp shows than anything else.
2002: Reshmi Ghosh, Kalkota - The doe-eyed Reshmi was crowned in the prestigious Bengali Sananda Tilottama pageant in 1999. She was a first-class Business Administration graduate at the time. With some modelling experience and a sweet personality, she was given the first "Miss India Earth" title in 2002, and found herself a local celebrity in Kalkota. She failed at the Miss Earth Pageant, but no worries for Reshmi. She is already awaiting the release of her first film, Saazish.
2003: Swetha Vijay, Dubai- Swetha Vijay is 23 years old and 5'9". She was born in Mumbai, but moved to Dubai where she won "Miss India - United Arab Emirates (UAE)" and was a Top Five finalist at Miss India Worldwide 1999 in New Jersey. Upon graduation, she joined a recording studio, but then shifted back to India, and obtained various modelling campaigns and a music video. Her future plans are to go to London in order to study Fashion Design.
2004: Jyoti Brahmin, Darjeeling - Jyoti comes from a small town and works as a Business Development Manager while finishing her higher studies in Kolkata. She won the Sananda Tilottama contest in 2003 and began modelling then, and finally finished 4th in the Femina Miss India contest, but was eventually promoted to Miss India-Earth after a shift in winners.
Photo Credits: Indian Classics, Bollywood Pictures, Indiatimes Photos and Modelwatch, Apun Ka Choice, Pride of India, and Sony TV
2005: Niharika Singh, Dehra Dun
2006: Amruta Patki, Mumbai
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