Miss Chennai was a city

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, which operated under the parent organization VIBA between 1999 and 2009. The competition's first winner was

Trisha Krishnan Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983), known mononymously as Trisha, is an Indian actress and model, who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu films. She was noticed after winning Miss Chennai contest (1999), which marked her entry into the fil ...

, and several of the participants from the pageant went on to make a career in the film industry.

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.

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. Vidya and Shobha later expanded their awards portfolio to include ceremonies titled "Chennai Man" and "Mom and I". 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 Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

. No further ceremonies have been held since 2009. 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.

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 Aparna Pillai, better known mononymously as Aparna, is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil films. She is probably best known for her performances in '' Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan'' and ''Nenjil''. Career Aparna Pillai entered th ...

at Miss Petite International 2003,

Medha Raghunath Medha Raghunath is a former Indian model, video jockey and socialite from Chennai. She began her career by hosting Tamil television shows before competing in beauty pageants and working as a model. Career Medha began her career in the enterta ...

World Miss University World Miss University is an international beauty contest held annually in Seoul, Korea since 1986, with an average of about 70 contestants every year. The event is to select World Miss University Peace Corp Representatives. This event was organi ...

2003 and Nirupama Natarajan at Miss Intercontinental 2004. In 2006, it was announced that the winner would go on to represent Chennai in the Miss Intercontinental pageant. Many of the winners and runners-up of the competition moved on to work in the film industry including

(1999),

(2000), Divya Subramanian (2001), Sruti Harihara Subramanian (2002),

(2002), Bidushi Dash Barde (2005–06), Samyuktha Shanmuganathan (2007) and

Sahithya Jagannathan Sahithya Jagannathan is a sports presenter, VJ, anchor, columnist, model, actress and beauty pageant winner of the Vivel Miss Chennai competition in 2009. Career After winning the Miss Chennai 2009 crown, Sahithya represented India in the World ...

(2009). Other participants who have worked in the film industry include

Mamathi Chari Mamathi Chari (born 21 December 1978) is an Indian radio jockey, television personality and actress who predominantly appears in Tamil films and television shows. She is very well known for hosting the television show '' Vanakkam Tamizha'' and app ...

(2000),

Ramya Subramanian Ramya Subramanian, also known as VJ Ramya, is an Indian actress and television host, who has worked in the Tamil film industry. Career Ramya participated in the Miss Chennai competition in 2004. She subsequently went on to host television ...

(2004–05),

Vasundhara Kashyap Vasundhara Kashyap is an Indian actress and model in Tamil language films. Career Vasundhara was born to a Tamil father and a Maharashtriann mother. She first appeared in the 2006 Tamil film, ''Vattaram'' and later starred in films includi ...

(2005–06),

Varsha Ashwathi Varsha R Ashwathi is an Indian actress, who appears in Tamil films. Varsha won the 'Miss Beautiful' title in the 2006 "Miss" Chennai contest. In the year 2009, Varsha made her acting debut in Tamil film '' Peranmai'' which co-starred Jeyam Ravi ...

(2005–06), Ann Alexia Anra (2007) and

Chandini Tamilarasan Chandini Tamilarasan is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil and Telugu language films. She made her debut in the lead role in K. Bhagyaraj's ''Siddhu +2'' (2010), before signing to play role in ''Naan Rajavaga Pogiren'' (2013). Early ...

(2007).

List of titleholders

References

{{reflist Femina Miss India Female models from Chennai Beauty pageants in India Tamil Nadu awards 1999 establishments in Tamil Nadu

History

Legacy

List of titleholders

See also

References