HYDERABAD, 22 January — Twenty-one-year-old Neha Dhupia from New Delhi was crowned Fa Femina Miss India Universe 2002 in the finals held here on Saturday night.
Bombay beauty Shruti Sharma (22) was crowned Fa Femina Miss India-World while Reshmi Ghosh (23) from Calcutta was chosen as Fa Femina Miss India Earth at a glittering event on the sprawling NAC Grounds near Hitec City on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It was for the first time the finals of the beauty contest were hosted at Hyderabad. The Miss India Universe 2002 crown was given away by last year’s winner Celina Jaitley. Miss India World 2002 was crowned by last year’s winner Sara Corner. Miss India Earth 2002 was crowned by last year’s Miss Asia Pacific Maheshwari Thyagarajan.
The panel of judges included sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, international designers Zandra Rhodes and Anand Jon, Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Preity Zinta, India’s Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan, 1999 Femina Miss India Yukta Mookhey, German singer Sabrina Setlur and actress Padmalakshmi.
The trio were chosen from among the 26 finalists after three rounds of questioning by the panel of judges. The five final contestants were asked to pose to the panel of judges the question uppermost on their minds. Neha clinched the top title with her question to the panel: "In this time of Indo-Pak tensions, why can’t we all seek peace, forget Indo-Pak border and live like human beings." Shruti wanted to know what the judges would ask the head of state of a country which was at war with theirs. Reshmi’s poser to the judges was how nervous they were when questioning the beauties.
