 nafisa joseph (3 march 1978â29 july 2004) was an indian model and mtv video jockey. she was the winner of femina miss india universe 1997 and was a finalist in the miss universe 1997 pageant in miami. == early life == nafisa joseph was born on 28 march 1978 in bangalore, karnataka, where she was also brought up. she was the younger of two daughters born to father nirmal joseph, a keralite syrian christian and mother usha joseph, a bengali, who was a descendant of tagore and first cousin of sharmila tagore. nafisa studied at bishop cotton girls' school and st. joseph's college, both at bangalore. she was raised catholic, but owed her islamic first name to the fact that her paternal grandmother was muslim. == career == joseph started modelling at age 12 when her neighbour got her an opportunity to model for a wearhouse ad. she was groomed as a model by prasad bidapa. joseph was the youngest participant at the miss india pageant in 1997, which she won. joseph participated in the miss universe pageant in miami, florida on may 16, 1997, and was among the 10 semifinalists in the pageant. in 1999, she was a judge for the mtv india vj hunt. a week later she was called for a screen test to host a show on mtv . she ran the mtv house full show for close to five years. she also acted in a television series c.a.t.s, an indian version of charlie's angels for sony entertainment television. in 2004, she hosted a show style on star world. she also launched a television programming unit 2's company with the help of her fiancÃ©, gautam khanduja. she edited a magazine called gurlz. she also had a brief cameo in the subhash ghai film taal. in addition to modeling and hosting duties, joseph was a lover of animals and campaigned for welfare of stray dogs (wsd), 
1978_births 2004_deaths Actresses_who_committed_suicide Femina_Miss_India_winners Indian_female_models Miss_Universe_1997_contestants Models_who_committed_suicide People_from_Bangalore Suicides_by_hanging_in_India Television_personalities_who_committed_suicide VJs_(media_personalities)