Anukreethy Vas, a 19-year old beautiful and talented young woman from Tamil Nadu, triumphed over 29 contestants from all over India to clinch the ‘Femina Miss India World 2018’ title on Tuesday, last week. She was crowned by Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar, who brought home the coveted ‘Miss World’ crown the first time since 2000.
Vas, raised by a single mother, was crowned at a star-studded grand finale of the beauty contest on June 19 night at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Indoor Stadium in Mumbai. Meenakshi Chaudhary, 21, from Harayana was declared the first runner-up, while Andhra Pradesh’s Shreya Rao Kamavarapu , 23, became the second runner-up in the annual beauty pageant.
A student of Chennai’s Loyola College, Vas is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in French to become an interpreter, but she works closely with an NGO for the education of transgenders – a cause close to her heart. She wishes to become a supermodel as she loves facing the camera, but Bollywood is not her focus right now. Her eyes are set on winning the Miss World crown for India again, Vas told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
The Femina Miss India show saw participants proving their aptitude by facing some tricky questions from the judges’ panel, which included Bobby Deol, Kunal Kapoor, Malaika Arora, fashion designer Gaurav Gupta and cricketer Irfan Pathan, along with Chhillar.
Talking about Miss India 2018, Manushi had earlier said, “I think there is no set formula and there is no one path that can be taken to the crown as every one has their own way. Even when you look at past winners of Miss World, everyone was unique. So you can’t give a set example but all I can tell them is to learn as much as they can and be themselves…We do have a lot of expectations from India. It’s going to be a tough one for whosoever wins.”
The event was hosted by Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Ayushmann Khurrana. Bollywood was prominently present at the grand finale, as Jacqueline Fernandez set the stage on fire by shaking a leg on “Desi Girl.”
Dancing diva and actress Madhuri Dixit Nene performed a beautiful dance number during the India round, with her co-dancers presenting various forms of Indian classical dance. She also hummed a few lines from her latest Marathi release, “Bucket List,” during an interaction with the hosts. Kareena Kapoor Khan looked ravishing in her stage performance on “Tareefan” from her latest film, “Veere Di Wedding.”
All the selected participants were groomed by Neha Dhupia, Rakul Preet Singh, Pooja Chopra and Pooja Hegde. The organizing team of the beauty pageant toured all 30 states of the country, including Delhi, and crowned one representative from each state, all aspiring for the coveted Miss India crown.
Anukreethy Vas will now represent India at Miss World 2018 while the two runners-up will represent the country at Miss Grand International 2018 and Miss United Continents 2018 respectively.
