Miss India or Femina Miss India is a national beauty pageant in India that annually selects representatives to compete in Miss World, one of the Big Four major international beauty pageants.
It is organised by Femina, a women's magazine published by The Times Group. Since 2013, Femina also organizes Miss Diva separately which sends representatives to Miss Universe.
So, here are some of the Bollywood actresses who've won beauty peagents before their debut:
- Zeenat Aman
She is one of the most beautiful and loved yesteryear beauty queen. The super hit actress won Miss Asia Pacific in 1970 and made her entry in Bollywood with Hare Raama Hare Krishna in 1971.
- Juhi Chawla
The cute actress Juhi is also a beauty queen. She was crowned Miss India in 1984 and made her Bollywood debut with Qayamat se Qayamat Tak along with Aamir Khan.
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
One of the most beautiful women in the world won Miss World in 1994. She has not only proved her acting talent in Bollywood but Hollywood as well.
- Sushmita Sen
Sushmita and Aishwarya represented India at the beauty pageant. While Aishwarya won Miss World, Sush was titled Miss Universe.
- Priyanka Chopra
The talented Priyanka was crowned Miss World in 2000 with Lara winning Miss Universe title.
Priyanka is one of the successful actresses who has now become an international diva with her singing and acting skills.
- Meenakshi Seshadri
She is one of the Bollywood's beauty pageant holders who won the Miss India contest in 1981 at the age 17!
However, after acting in hit films like Damini, Ghatak and Ghayal, the actress quit acting as she got married and wanted to focus on her family.
Edit 1: Thanks to Chandru Khemani for suggesting.
- Swaroop Sampat
She won the Miss India contest in 1979 and represented India at Miss Universe 1979.
She has acted in several Hindi language films such as Naram Garam and Nakhuda and is known for her performance in television serials like Yeh Jo Zindagi Hai.
Edit 2: Thanks to Anvil Gottlieb for the suggestion.
- Urvashi Rautela
She was crowned Miss Diva - 2015 and represented India at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.
She made her Bollywood debut with Singh Saab The Great (2013) and appeared in films like Sanam Re (2016), Great Grand Masti (2016), Hate Story 4 (2018) and Pagalpanti (2019).
Note: This list doesn't include Miss Sri Lanka Universe 2006 Jacqueline Fernandez, who's quite active in Bollywood.