‘Aishwarya Rai was my roommate during Miss India’, says Shwetha Menon: ‘I went to Miss India Asia Pacific but…’

In 1994, the title of Miss Asia Pacific International was won by Peru’s Jessica Vanessa Guiulfo Tapia. Mexico’s Karla Contreras Estrada was the first runner-up, Turkey’s Ozlem Mete was the second runner-up, Israel’s Nathalie Cohen was the third runner-up and Tahiti’s Vaihere Lehartel was the fourth runner-up, as per the pageant’s official website.

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In an earlier chat with Matrubhumi, Shwetha Menon had said that she was the first runner-up in the Miss India competition. She shared, “One day when I came back from school, my father informed me that there was a letter from Coimbatore to participate in Miss India contest. Though he was not very happy about the fact that I sent the application without consulting him, he gave me permission to participate in the contest and accompanied me to Coimbatore. I came first runner-up in the competition and my photos appeared in newspapers in Kerala. As the first runner-up, though I was qualified to participate in the final, I wasn’t allowed since my age was below 18.”

Shwetha started her career in the movies with the 1991 film Anaswaram, starring Mammootty. She made her debut in Bollywood with the 1997 film Prithvi, also starring Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty. She appeared in many Hindi films in the early 2000s like Asoka, 88 Antop Hill, Hungama, Corporate, among others.