Esther Victoria Abraham To Manushi Chhillar: Miss India Winners Who Ventured In Acting
The first-ever winner of the Miss India pageant (in 1947), Esther Victoria Abraham had already been an actress before being crowned and continued to do films after her victory.
Source: Wikipedia
Nutan was one of two winners of the pageant in 1952 and had already worked in films before, but her victory propelled her career significantly, leading to roles hit Bollywood films.
Source: X
Leela Naidu was crowned Miss India in 1954 and soon after she was offered several Hindi films. She started her acting career in 1960 and went on to star in 9 more films.
Source: IMDb
Before winning the Miss Universe beauty pageant in 1994, Sushmita Sen won the Miss India title the same year. She has worked in several hit Bollywood films including Filhaal and Main Hoon Na.
Source: sushmitasen47/Instagram
Lara Dutta won the 2000 pageant and subsequently was crowned Miss Universe 2000 as well. Her 1st film appearance came 3 years after winning the title in Andaaz, followed by diverse work in hit films.
Source: Wikipedia
Namrata Shirodkar won the Miss India title in 1993 after five years she made her debut in the Hindi industry.
Source: namratashirodkar/Instagram
Manushi Chhillar won the 2017 pageant and subsequently was crowned Miss World title. She forayed into Bollywood opposite Akshay Kumar in the historical drama Samrat Prithviraj (2022).