Miss Chennai

Miss Chennai

Formation	1999
Type	Beauty pageant
Headquarters	Chennai
Location	India
Official language	English

Miss Chennai was a city beauty pageant in Chennai, India, which operated under the parent organization VIBA between 1999 and 2009. The competition's first winner was Trisha Krishnan, and several of the participants from the pageant went on to make a career in the film industry. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

History

The Miss Chennai contest was organised by the entertainment group VIBA, created by sisters Vidya Balakrishnan and Shoba Ravishankar. The group had first created "Teen Super Model 97", before making Miss Chennai their flagship event in 1999. Trisha Krishnan was the first winner of the competition and was crowned at an event in September 1999. In the following years, VIBA continued to host the Miss Chennai pageant in locations such as the Rajah Muthiah Hall, the Madras Race Club and the Chettinad Auditorium. ^{[4] [5]} Vidya and Shobha later expanded their awards portfolio to include ceremonies titled "Chennai Man" and "Mom and I". ^{[6] [7]}

For the 2009 pageant, it was revealed that there were 750 applications, 300 contestants were screened, with 20 shortlisted and 12 finalised for the finals. The 2009 pageant was shown as a reality television show over 12 weeks on Star Vijay. No further ceremonies have been held since 2009. ^[8]

In the late 2010s, former contestants suggested that the influx of new competitions such as Miss South India, Face of Chennai, Miss Madras had hampered career prospects for the winners of Miss Chennai. ^[9]

Legacy

Several of the participating models went on to represent India at other international pageants following their success with Miss Chennai. This included Aparna Pillai at Miss Petite International 2003, Medha Raghunath at World Miss University 2003 and Nirupama Natarajan at Miss Intercontinental 2004. ^[10] In 2006, it was announced that the winner would go on to represent Chennai in the Miss Intercontinental pageant. ^[11]

Many of the winners and runners-up of the competition moved on to work in the film industry including Trisha Krishnan (1999), Medha Raghunath (2000), Divya Subramanian (2001), Sruti Harihara Subramanian (2002), Aparna Pillai (2002), Bidushi Dash Barde (2005–06), Samyuktha Shanmuganathan (2007) and Sahithya Jagannathan (2009).

Other participants who have worked in the film industry include Mamathi Chari (2000), Ramya Subramanian (2004–05), Vasundhara Kashyap (2005–06), Varsha Ashwathi (2005–06), Ann Alexia Anra (2007) and Chandini Tamilarasan (2007).

List of titleholders

Year	Miss Chennai	1st Runner-up	2nd Runner-up	Other finalists	Source
1999	Trisha Krishnan	Maheshwari Thyagarajan	Sandhya Prakash	Candice Dharthi Lisa Nirupama Natarajan Sangita Schwetlav Sheetal Bajaj Shipa Swapna	[12]
2000	Pooja Nair	Medha Raghunath	Divya Bhatnagar	Aishwarya Ashrutha Chahath Lavanya Leena Mamathi Chari Nina Salani Schwetlav Shamini Simran Mathew Swetha Upasna Raju	[13]
2001	Anurithi Chikerurar	Rathika Venugopal	Divya Subramanian	Amanda Anju Archana Aru Deepa Divya Singaravelu Merita Nalana Pavithra	[14]
2002	Sitara Devanadan	Sruti Harihara Subramanian	Aparna Pillai	Andrea Anurahini Aparna N. Archana A. Archana B. Hema Meetu Sharmishta Surya	[15]
2003	Bindya Devi Talluri	Nina Mehta Jain	Aashritha Devi Talluri	Apsara Srinivasan Archana Baviya Farida Karishma Nisha Prishi Ridhi Riya Mathew	[16]
2004-5	Deepa Rajan	Ketki Chandravarkar	Pooja Priyanka	Divya Balasubramanian Gajaprasha D. Laxmi Rakade Niharikha Ramya Subramanian Reshu Jain Sakina Dhankot Shruti Taruna Chugani	[17]
2005-6	Deepika Vasudevan	Taruna Chugani	Bidushi Dash Barde	Anjena C. Aparna Ram Gayathri R. Kiran Mahendran Nataasha B. Jamani Natasha Shekar Niyati Thakar Priyanka Vempati S. Parxana Sneha S. Tanvi Thakkar Varsha Ashwathi Vasundhara Kashyap	[18]
2007	Samyuktha Shanmuganathan	Rohini Singh	Swapna Rajasekar	Ann Alexia Anra Chandni Nahar Chandini Tamilarasan Garima Mishra Manasvini Sridhar Niyati Pooja Amarnath Saloni S. Shah Shirley Sonali Shenoy	[18]
2008-9	Sahithya Jagannathan	Kavi Priya	Priya Thalur	Divya Ravishankar Pavithra Rishita Sawlani Sneha Suchitra Swetha Tanuja	[18]

See also

• Miss India
• List of beauty pageants in India

References

1. BasuUpdated, Nilanjana (30 September 2020). "Trisha Krishnan's Throwback To The Day That "Changed" Her Life 21 Years Ago". NDTV.com. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
2. "No Filter: The duo who bid bye to dye and embraced grey hair". dtNext.in. 16 February 2019.^{[ dead link ]}
3. "Tiara tribulations". The New Indian Express.
4. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
5. "I am more confident now: Miss Chennai". 7 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008.
6. "Reaching for perfection". India Today.
7. "Online edition of Sunday Observer – Business". archives.sundayobserver.lk.
8. "Chennai's fashion envoys". The New Indian Express.
9. Purushothaman, Kirubhakar (23 June 2017). "Will the real Miss Chennai stand up?". Deccan Chronicle.
10. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
11. "'Eva Miss Chennai' pageant on Feb 24". 28 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
12. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
13. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
14. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
15. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
16. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006.
17. "Miss Chennai Contest Participants Winners Runners Sponsors Organizers Photo Gallery Training Session Pictures Wall". 16 July 2006. Archived from the original on 16 July 2006.
18. "Participate in Miss Chennai, Chennai Man, Miss Chennai Winners". www.vibamisschennai.com.