Yukta Mookhey

Yukta Inderlal Mookhey is an Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She represented India at Miss World 1999 and eventually won the contest, becoming the fourth Indian woman to win Miss World. She has worked in few Hindi films, and is also involved in social works.

Yukta Mookhey
Mookhey in 2017.
Born
Yukta Inderlal Mookhey

(1977-10-07)7 October 1977[1][2][3] or
(1979-10-07)7 October 1979[4][5]
(42 or 40)
Alma materVaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce
OccupationModel, actress
Years active1999–present
Spouse(s)Prince Tuli
(2008–2014)
Children1
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair colourBlack
Eye colourBrown
Major
competition(s)
Femina Miss India 1999
(1st runner-up)
(Miss Photogenic)
Miss World 1999
(Winner)
(Miss World - Asia & Oceania)

Early life

Mookhey was born in Bangalore in a Sindhi family and was raised in Dubai until Mookhey was seven years of age.[6] Her family moved back to Mumbai in June 1986. Her mother Aroona used to run a grooming saloon in Santa Cruz, Mumbai and her father, Inderlal Mookhey was a former Managing Director of a clothing company.[7] After school, she studied zoology at the V. G. Vaze College in Mumbai. She has a diploma in computer sciences from Aptech and has studied Hindustani classical music for three years.[1]

Pageantry

Femina Miss India

In 1999, Mookhey entered herself into the Femina Miss India contest, where she was shortlisted as a contestant. At the grand finale, she was crowned as Miss India World 1999 (first runner-up) by the outgoing titleholder Annie Thomas, giving her the right to represent India at the Miss World 1999 contest.[8][9]

Miss World

The 49th edition of the Miss World pageant was held on 4 December 1999 at Olympia, London and 93 delegates from around the world competed for the title. At the end of the event, Mookhey was crowned as Miss World 1999 by her predecessor Linor Abargil from Israel.[10][11] She also won the Asia & Oceania’s Queen of Beauty Award during the Miss World contest.[12] Mookhey became the fourth woman from India to win Miss World after Reita Faria in 1966, Aishwarya Rai in 1994 and Diana Hayden in 1997.[13][14]

Social works

After Mookhey's tenure as Miss World, she involved herself in various social and charitable causes.[15] She has worked for the people affected by HIV/AIDS, breast cancer and thalassemia.[16] Mookhey has pledged to donate her organs. In connection with this, she stated, “This step will benefit someone, once I leave this world”.[16] She also works as an educationist and provides motivational counseling in various platforms.[17] She has partnered with an NGO to guide young girls from the slums, nudging them towards self-contemplation, their needs and becoming aware of their bodies, through counseling.[18]

Mookhey at the 2013 Global Peace concert, in Mumbai's Andheri Sports Complex, on Martyrs' Day (30 January)

Mookhey is an environmental activist, and has participated in various clean drives and social movements to prevent afforestation.[19] In 2018, she joined a campaign to prevent illegal tree cutting talking place at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, to pave way for road and metro constructions.[20] During the movement, she stated - “I don't see any reason behind constructing road and metro from the sanctuary. The metro can be constructed underground and the road can be made elsewhere. Humans are not capable of making of what ‘Mother Earth’ can do. So we are just asking to stop the works and also stop cutting the trees.”[20] She also consigned a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation's Heritage Cell, to include the bird sanctuary in the list of national heritage sites.[21]

She supports the Swachh Kalyani Nagar initiative in Pune, and had campaigned the households to process their waste effectively through segregation and recycling, ensuring minimum to zero garbage generation from individual societies.[18]

Personal life

On 7 September 2008, Mookhey got engaged to Prince Tuli, a New York-based businessman and financial consultant at a ceremony held at the Grand Maratha in Mumbai.[22] The marriage was held on 2 November 2008 in a traditional Sikh ceremony at a Nagpur Gurudwara followed by a reception.[23] They have one son together.

In July 2013, Mookhey accused her husband and in-laws of subjecting her to domestic violence and harassment,[24] and a FIR was registered under Sections 498A (cruelty) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.[25] She also accused Tuli under IPC section 377 (unnatural sex).[26] In June 2014, the couple obtained a consensual divorce.[27][28]

Film career

Mookhey entered the film industry in 2001 through the Tamil movie Poovellam Un Vasam, where she appeared in a song titled "Yukta Mookhey". She made her Hindi film debut with Pyaasa in 2002 starring with Aftab Shivdasani. The film proved to be a flop at the box office. Yukta was cast in Market (2003 film) but had to drop out due to an injury. In 2003, she signed Kab Kyon Kahan and Hum Teeno, but both films where later shelved. She was later signed up in the 2004 release Insaaf: The Justice, but had to drop the project.[29] In 2005, she acted in two films Memsahab and Love in Japan and in 2006, she appeared in the music video Kathputali. After a long break, she appeared in the 2019 film Good Newwz.[30]

Filmography

Films

Film Year Role Notes Ref.
Poovellam Un Vasam 2001 Guest appearance Tamil film [31]
Pyaasa 2002 Sheetal Hindi film [32]
Katputtli 2006 Anju [33][34]
Love In Japan 2006 Guest appearance [35][36]
Kab Kahaba Tu I Love You 2007 Bhojpuri film [37]
Memsahab - Lost In A Mirage 2008 Anjali [38][39]
Good Newwz 2019 IVF Center Patient [30]

Television

Title Year Role Notes Ref.
Femina Miss India 1999 1999 Herself – contestant [40][41]
Miss World 1999 1999 Herself – contestant International pageant [42]
International Indian Film Awards 2000 2000 Host Award ceremony [43]
Miss World 2000 2000 Herself [44]

References

  1. "From Sushmita Sen to Diana Hayden, see how educated your favourite Indian beauty pageant winners are". India Times. 25 July 2017.
  2. "Yukta Mookhey: Do you know the Miss World 1999 has a degree in Zoology?". mid-day. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. "इस मिस वर्ल्ड से आए दिन मारपीट करता था पति, तंग आकर लिया था तलाक". Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi). 7 October 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. "पति ने पीट-पीटकर इस पूर्व मिस वर्ल्ड का कर दिया था बुरा हाल, तलाक के बाद ऐसे कर रहीं गुजारा". Amar Ujala. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. "New Straits Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  6. Rohit Garoo. "Yukta Mookhey's Marriage: Paying the price for being a princess". Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  7. Nikita Wagh (7 October 2019). "Yukta Mookhey: Do you know the Miss World 1999 has a degree in Zoology?". Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  8. Priya Ramani (1 February 1999). "New Miss India Gul Panag next to try a shot at Miss Universe crown". India Today. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  9. "Femina Miss India 1999 Grand Finale". Beauty Pageants (Miss India Organazation). 26 February 2018.
  10. "Miss India takes world crown". The Gainesville Sun. 5 December 1999.
  11. "Indian beauty crowned Miss World 1999 amid protests". The New Straits Times. 6 December 1999.
  12. "Bollywood Confidential - Yukta Mookhey". Indiatimes News. 6 October 2014.
  13. "Makers of India - Women of Fame". Indian Mirror. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  14. Simon Robinson (15 August 2007). "India's Most Influential". Time. Time magazine.
  15. "Not films, birthday girl Yukta Mookhey hit the headlines for this!". Daily Bhaskar. 26 October 2015.
  16. "Yukta Mookhey to direct films". Economic Times. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  17. Shinde, Swati (20 August 2018). "Former Miss World, Yukta Mookhey interacts with Sinhgad students". The Times of India.
  18. Sanchita Das (13 January 2019). "Yukta Mookhey: Teach and Learn". The Pune Mirror. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  19. Kulkarni, Prachee (27 October 2018). "Ex-beauty queen joins the battle against axed trees in Pune's Kalyani Nagar". The Pune Mirror. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  20. "Over 740 people make human chain to save Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary". Sakal Times. 8 December 2018.
  21. Gadkari, Siddarth (6 February 2019). "Include Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary in the heritage sites list". Sakal Times.
  22. "mastione.com". ww5.mastione.com.
  23. "Yukta Mookhey's wedding". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  24. Gupta, Priya (6 July 2013). "Yukta Mookhey: Prince and his entire family have a psychological problem". The Times of India.
  25. "Former Miss World Yukta Mookhey lodges FIR against husband for domestic violence". India Today. 5 July 2013.
  26. Press Trust of India (5 July 2013). "Actress Yukta Mookhey lodges FIR against husband for domestic violence". NDTV.
  27. "Yukta and Tuli part ways, High Court accepts consent terms for divorce". Deccan Herald. 26 March 2014.
  28. "Yukta Mookhey and Tuli get divorce". Patrika Group (in Hindi). Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  29. "Yukta: My 'Hum Teeno will release soon". 4 April 2004.
  30. "Good Newwz Cast & Crew, Roles, Release Date, Full Story - FilmiBeat". www.filmibeat.com. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  31. "Poovellam un Vaasam Review". Rediff.
  32. "Pyaasa". Bollywood Hungama.
  33. "Katputli". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 24 October 2008.
  34. "Katputli Review". Indiafm.com.
  35. "Love in Japan". Bollywood Hungama.
  36. "Love in Japan review". Parinda.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012.
  37. "Kab Kahaba Tu I Love You". Indiafm.com.
  38. "Memsahab". Indiafm.com.
  39. "Memsahab Review". Smash Hits.
  40. "Miss India 1999 - Glimpse of the past". Indiatimes. 1 April 2009.
  41. "Miss India 2000 countdown begins". The Business Line. 11 January 2000.
  42. "Miss India crowned Miss World 1999 amidst feminist demonstrations". Reading Eagle. 5 December 1999.
  43. "First IIFA Award ceremony in the year 2000". International Indian Film Academy Awards. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  44. "India's Chopra is the new Miss World". New Straits Times. 2 December 2000. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Linor Abargil
Miss World
1999
Succeeded by
Priyanka Chopra
Preceded by
Lina Teoh
Miss World Asia & Oceania
1999
Succeeded by
Priyanka Chopra
Preceded by
Annie Thomas
Femina Miss India World
1999
Succeeded by
Priyanka Chopra
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