Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Beyond beauty
When tragedy strikes it takes many of us by surprise…
Think Nafisa…. and you immediately think of the heartthrob of the teen brigade who was the hit VJ of MTV and the former Miss India. Two weeks ago people woke up to the news that Nafisa Joseph had committed suicide. As news got out about her hanging herself from the ceiling in her rented flat in Mumbai, the entertainment and glamour worlds were in shock at the news of the tragedy. The 26-year-old hanged herself at her apartment in Versova-Juhu Link Road in suburban Khar, apparently over domestic reasons, the police said.

Her mother found her and took her to a nearby hospital, but the beauty queen was declared dead on arrival. Rumours float about a rift with her fiancé, businessman Gautam Khanduja, over the fact that there were problems with his divorce. According to people close to Nafisa, she had been unhappy for some time, and as a result, had stopped socialising.

Hailing from the city of Bangalore, Nafisa modelled from the age of thirteen. Known as a girl who always loved the limelight, people said that she was one girl who planned every career move far in advance. They believed that she deserved every bit of the success that came her way and knew that she would go far from a very early age.

Sophisticated and glamorous, Nafisa had style to match her sensitivity and it’s this combination that totally besotted anyone who came into contact with her. At the threshold of a fabulous life Nafisa was the MTV House Full VJ for six years, and then moved on to host Style, a show on the star world that ended on May 30 this year.

Passionate about animals from her younger days, her dedication to animal welfare continued into adulthood and Nafisa became an active member of the People For Animals (PFA) outfit and spearheaded fervent campaigns for PFA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Getting other people motivated was her ‘thing’ and she even wrote a weekly column where she shared her passion and concern for animals with her readers and countless fans.

Believing firmly that she came into this world to make a mark, there was nothing she refused. She left behind a successful athletic past (complete with scraped knees) when she was just 18 to reach for the stars and accept her crown as Miss India 1997. She went on to be crowned further, as runner-up in the Miss Universe beauty pageant that same year. Destiny noticed her, and practically overnight, Nafisa had offers pouring her way.

As the VJ for House Full, she took her die-hard fans through the hottest soundtracks and video clips of Hindi movies, giving a sneak-peek of box office hits. As one of the most sought after models, her personal style and no-nonsense attitude won her praise from the fashion fraternity.

With her beautiful long hair, flashing brown eyes and dazzling smile you’d be forgiven for not looking beyond. Somehow though, people always said that when it came to her, you got the feeling that there was so much more than what met the eye. And in reality, she truly was so much more than just a pretty face.

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