Indian actor-model Lara Dutta will celebrate her 43rd birthday on April 16. Lara made her debut in the film industry at the time when other contemporary heroines like Dia Mirza, Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra had also won beauty pageants and made India proud.
She began her career as a model. Her pageantry began with Gladrags Mega model India competition thus paving her way into Miss Intercontinental Pageant. She bagged the title in 1997 and went on to participate in the Femina Miss India contest in 2000. She was crowned as Miss India Universe in the same year.
After her successful stint in modelling, Lara first signed a Tamil film but her Bollywood film released before the Tamil one. She made her Hindi film debut with Andaz that co-starred Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra.
After being crowned the Miss Universe in the year 2000, Lara has gone ahead to star in about 35 movies and make special appearances in several other films.
As the lady has turned a year older today, have a look at Lara’s winning answer at the Miss Universe pageant.
What was the question that won her the Miss Universe title?
Question: Right now there is a protest going on right outside here calling the Miss Universe Pageant disrespectful of women. Convince them they are wrong
Answer: “I think pageants like the Miss Universe pageant gives us young women a platform to foray in the fields that we want to and forge ahead, be it entrepreneurship, be it the armed force, be it politics. It gives us a platform to voice our choices and opinions, and makes us strong, independent that we are today.”
After working for several years in the film industry, Lara took a conscious decision of taking a break from the industry post marriage with Tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi and the birth of their child. Lara was last seen in Beecham House, a British historical drama television series set in 1795. Her last Bollywood movie was Welcome to New York in which she played the role of Sophia in the film.
