Naina Balsaver Ahmed (born 1959) is an Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who the winner of Femina Miss India 1976.

Early life and pageantry

Naina Balsaver was born in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. In the year 1976 she competed in

Femina Miss India Miss India, also known as Femina Miss India, is a national beauty pageant in India that selects representatives to compete in the Miss World competition, one of the Big Four international beauty pageants. It is organized by ''Femina (India), F ...

pageant and eventually won the coveted crown. She was appointed to represent India at

Miss Universe 1976 Miss Universe 1976 was the 25th Miss Universe pageant, held on 11 July 1976 at the Lee Theatre in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Rina Messinger of Israel was crowned by Anne Marie Pohtamo of Finland. This was the first and only time that an Israel ...

and

Miss World 1976 Miss World 1976 was the 26th edition of the Miss World pageant, held on 18 November 1976 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. The winner was Cindy Breakspeare from Jamaica. She was crowned by Miss World 1975, Wilnelia Merced o ...

pageants. However she did not compete in

due to protest against the presence of two South African entries - one white and one black - in conformity with the apartheid policy of racial separation. The same year, she competed at

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stree ...

pageant but remained unplaced. She is the only Femina Miss India winner who carried both the Femina Miss India Universe and Femina Miss India World titles.

Career

She acted in Bollywood films. She acted in the television soap opera, ''Manzil''. She contested on BSP ticket against N. D. Tiwari but lost the election. She is a jewelry designer.

Personal life

She married twice, first when she was 19. She later married

Akbar Ahmed Akbar Salahuddin Ahmed, is a Pakistani Americans, Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, playwright, filmmaker and former diplomat. He currently is a professor of International Relations and holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at ...

, a politician and real estate developer. Her first husband's name was Riyaz Ismail. Her mother was an Indian classical singer called Bela Saaver and her aunt is the disco and Jazz vocalist

Asha Puthli Asha Puthli (born February 4, 1945) is an Indian-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress, born and raised in Mumbai. She has recorded solo albums for EMI, CBS/Sony, and RCA. Her recordings cover blues, pop, rock, soul, funk, disco, a ...

References

Beauty pageant contestants from Uttar Pradesh Female models from Uttar Pradesh Femina Miss India winners Living people 1959 births Miss Universe 1976 contestants Bahujan Samaj Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh {{India-actor-stub