Nafisa Joseph

Nafisa Joseph (March 28, 1978 - July 29, 2004) was an Indian model and MTV video jockey. She was the winner of Miss India Universe 1997.

Nafisa Joseph was brought up in the city of Bangalore. She was the younger of two daughters born to Nirmal Joseph, a Punjabi, and Usha Joseph, a Bengali and a descendant of Tagore (Usha was a first cousin of Sharmila Tagore). Nafisa studied at Bishop Cotton School and St. Joseph's College, both at Bangalore. She was Catholic, but owed her Islamic name to the fact that her paternal grandmother was a Muslim.

She started modelling at age 12 when her neighbour got her an opportunity to model for a Wearhouse ad. She was groomed as a model by Prasad Bidapa. Nafisa was the youngest participant at the Miss India pageant in 1997, which she won.

In 1999 she was a judge for the MTV (Music TeleVision) VJ Hunt. A week later she herself was called for a screen test to host a show on MTV . She ran the MTV House Full show for close to five years. She also acted in a television series C.A.T.S, an Indian version of Charlie's Angels for Sony Entertainment. In 2004, She hosted a show Style on Star World. She also launched a television programming unit 2's Company with the help of her fiance, Gautam Khanduja.

She was a lover of animals and campaigned for Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and People for Animals (PFA), organizations for animal protection, and wrote a weekly column called Nafisa for Animals in the Bangalore edition of the Times of India .

Nafisa Joseph committed suicide in her flat in Mumbai. She was engaged to be married on August 28, 2004. According to her parents, Nafisa took the step because the marriage was called off.

Nafisa Joseph

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