Miss Diva 2021

Miss Diva 2021 was the 9th edition of the Miss Diva beauty pageant which was held on 30 September 2021 in Hyatt Regency Hotel, Mumbai. The 20 shortlisted contestants from India competed in the pageant. Adline Castelino crowned Harnaaz Sandhu as her successor. After three months, she represented India at Miss Universe 2021 and became the 3rd Miss Universe from India to win the crown. Aavriti Choudhary crowned Ritika Khatnani as her successor. She represented India at Miss Supranational 2022 and won the title of Miss Supranational Asia 2022. Neha Jaiswal crowned Sonal Kukreja as 1st Runner-Up, whereas Kriti Sanon sashed all the remaining Runners-Up. Divita Rai was selected to represent India at Miss Universe 2022 and placed in the top 16.

Miss Diva 2021
Date	September 30, 2021
Presenters	Sachin Kumbhar Ruhi Singh
Entertainment	Malaika Arora Sukriti Kakar Prakriti Kakar
Venue	Hyatt Regency Hotel, Mumbai
Broadcaster	MTV
Entrants	20
Placements	10
Winner	• Harnaaz Sandhu • Ritika Khatnani
Photogenic	• Anaika Nair
← 2020 2022 →

This edition marked the longest period of time (20 months after Miss Diva 2020) that the organization has taken to hold an annual contest in contrast to its previous editions.

Final results

Color keys

The contestant won in an international pageant.   The contestant was a runner-up in an international pageant.   The contestant was a semi-finalist in an international pageant.   Unplaced

Final results	Candidate	International placement
Miss Universe India 2021	Harnaaz Sandhu	Miss Universe 2021
Miss Diva Supranational 2022	Ritika Khatnani	Top 12 Miss Supranational Asia 2022
1st Runner Up	Sonal Kukreja
2nd Runner Up	Divita Rai
3rd Runner Up	Tarini Kalingarayar
4th Runner Up	Ankita Singh
Top 10	Ayesha Assadi Nikita Tiwari Pallabi Saikia Siddhi Gupta

Sub-contests

Miss Beach Body

Result	Name
Winner	Ritika Khatnani
Top 6	Ayesha Assadi Harnaaz Sandhu Lavnaya Sangwan Palomi Insan Sonal Kukreja

Miss Beautiful Hair

Result	Name
Winner	Naveli Deshmukh
Top 5	Ritika Khatnani Sachi Kudale Sonal Kukreja Tarini Kalingarayar

Miss Beautiful Skin

Result	Name
Winner	Harnaaz Sandhu
Top 5	Anaika Nair Ritika Khatnani Siddhi Gupta Sonal Kukreja

Miss Beautiful Smile

Result	Name
Winner	Lavanya Sangwan
Top 5	Harnaaz Sandhu Ritika Khatnani Sachi Kudale Siddhi Gupta

Miss Fashion Icon

Result	Name
Winner	Ayesha Assadi
Top 5	Ankita Singh Nikita Tiwari Pallabi Saikia Siddhi Gupta

Miss Photogenic

Result	Name
Winner	Anaika Nair
Top 5	Ankita Singh Divita Rai Harnaaz Sandhu Sonal Kukreja

Miss Talented

Result	Name
Winners	Pallabi Saikia Palomi Insan
Top 5	Harnaaz Sandhu Naina Upadhyaya Ritika Khatnani

Other sub-contest winners

Sub-contest	Winner
Miss Top Model	Pallabi Saikia
Miss Congeniality	Sonal Kukreja
Miss Iron Maiden	Palomi Insan
Miss Active	Sonal Kukreja
Miss Lifestyle	Divita Rai
Miss IQ	Divita Rai
Miss Sudoku	Divita Rai
Miss Takatak Star	Palomi Insan

Format

The pioneer

For the first time in Miss Diva's history, the organization lowered the height criteria from 5'5 "to 5'4". The organization now also allows trans women to enter the pageant meeting the criteria in certain.^[1][2][3][4]

Dipanjali Chhetri became the first trans woman to compete in the Miss Diva competition. She made it to the top 50 semifinalists.^[5][6][7]

Selection of candidates

In light of the pandemic situation that paralyzed the nation, the Miss Diva Organization decided to limit its operations to virtual projection and online interviews, thus allowing applicants to participate from the comfort of their homes. The organization opened the application to the public on June 11, 2021, until July 20, 2021.^[8][9][10]

After the initial auditions, applicants were shortlisted to a Top 50 list, and these candidates were summoned for several rounds of interviews, chaired by an elite bench of celebrities. Later, the selected contestants shortened down to top 20 finalists, including a wild card entry, chosen by public vote. These 20 finalists took part in the contest's boot-camp and were to compete in the final event to be held in Mumbai on 30 September 2021.^[11]

Contestants

Top 20

The following are the 20 official contestants:^[12]

Color key

•   Declared as winner
•   Ended as runner-up
•   Ended as one of the finalists or semi-finalists

Nu.	Contestant	Age[a]	Height	Hometown	Placement
1	Aishwarya Kamal	24	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	New Delhi
2	Akshita Singh	21	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Vadodara
3	Anaika Nair	24	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	Mumbai
4	Ankita Singh	22	5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)	Kolkata	4th Runner-up
5	Ayesha Assadi	21	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Mumbai	Top 10
6	Divita Rai	23	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Mumbai	2nd Runner-up
7	Harnaaz Sandhu	21	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Chandigarh	Miss Diva Universe 2021
8	Lavanya Sangwan	22	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Gurugram
9	Naina Upadhyaya	21	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Mumbai
10	Naveli Deshmukh[Replacements 1]	25	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Aurangabad
11	Nikita Tiwari	23	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Mumbai	Top 10
12	Ojasvi Sharma	24	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	Delhi
13	Pallabi Saikia	21	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Digboi	Top 10
14	Palomi Insan	24	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)	Noida
15	Ritika Khatnani	19	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Pune	Miss Diva Supranational 2022
16	Ruchi Chettri	20	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	Darjeeling
17	Sachi Kudale	21	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)	Pune
18	Siddhi Gupta	25	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Delhi	Top 10
19	Sonal Kukreja	23	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Jaipur	1st Runner-up
20	Tarini Kalingarayar	22	5 ft 7.5 in (1.71 m)	Chennai	3rd Runner-up

Semifinalists

As in the previous edition, the winner of the Campus Princess contest will obtain a direct place in the Top 20 of Miss Diva 2021. Below are the Top 18 finalists of Campus Princess 2020. The list of finalists was announced in two parts, Part I and Part II on July 24 and 25, 2021 respectively. Miss Diva 2021 Top 50 was announced on 16 August 2021.^[14]

On August 23, 2021, the Top 20 and Top 5 Wild Card aspirants were announced. The top 5 wild card contenders will face a public online vote until August 30, 2021, and the one with the most votes will enter the Top 20.^[15]

•   Advanced to Top 50
•   Advanced to Top 20
•   Chosen as Top 5 Wildcard entrants

Campuss Princess 2020 finalists	Miss Diva Top 50 semifinalists		Wildcard entrants - Top 5
S.No Name Hometown 1 Amrita Parihar Madhya Pradesh 2 Ananya Bist Dehradun 3 Ankita Singha Guwahati 4 Anoushka Chauhan Gandhinagar 5 Disha Patil Nagpur 6 Himali Pareek Rajasthan 7 Ishika Singh Mumbai 8 Khushi Ajwani Jaipur 9 Lavanya Sangwan Gurugram 10 Mahekdeep Kaur Amritsar 11 Mehak Vinayak Chandigarh 12 Nimisha Dhote Bhopal 13 Pankhuri Mehrotra Mumbai 14 Ritvikka Dwivedi Mumbai 15 Shibi Batar Delhi 16 Shyna Choudhary Pathankot 17 Vaibhavi Sharma Uttarakhand 18 Vanshika Dawara Jabalpur	S.No Name Hometown 1 Aavya Gupta Mumbai 2 Aditi Jaswal Dehradun 3 Aishwarya Kamal Delhi 4 Akshita Shetty Mumbai 5 Akshita Singh Vadodara 6 Alankrita Shahi Ghaziabad 7 Anaika Nair Mumbai 8 Ankita Singh Kolkata 9 Atasi Sindal Bankura 10 Ayesha Assadi Mumbai 11 Bhavana Sharma Bengaluru 12 Dipanjali Chhetri Delhi 13 Disha Patil Nagpur 14 Divita Rai Mumbai 15 Harnaaz Sandhu Chandigarh 16 Heli Vyas Mumbai 17 Ishika Singh Mumbai 18 Jasmine Lazarus Delhi 19 Jhanvi Sareen Gurugram 20 Kanchan Khatana Jaipur 21 Lavanya Gunasekar Mumbai 22 Mansi Taxak Mumbai 23 Mariam Paul Thrissur 24 Marishca Rodrigues Mumbai 25 Naina Upadhyaya Mumbai	S.No Name Hometown 26 Naveli Deshmukh Aurangabad 27 Nikita Thomas Kochi 28 Nikita Tiwari Mumbai 29 Nishi Bhardwaj Delhi 30 Niveditha Rajan Bengaluru 31 Ojasvi Sharma Delhi 32 Pallabi Saikia Digboi 33 Palomi Insan Noida 34 Pranshu Singh Yadav Seoni 35 Rajashree Dowarah Dibrugarh 36 Rhiya Yadav Mumbai 37 Ritika Khatnani Pune 38 Ritvikka Dwivedi Mumbai 39 Ruchi Chettri Darjeeling 40 Rushali Yadav Ajmer 41 Sachi Kudale Pune 42 Shefali Sharma Rewa 43 Shivangi Julka Delhi 44 Shraddha Surve Mumbai 45 Siddhi Gupta Delhi 46 Snehapriya Roy Mumbai 47 Sonal Kukreja Jaipur 48 Tarini Kalingarayar Chennai 49 Vaishnavi Hodalkar Pune 50 VM Mansi Kochi	S.No Name Hometown 1 Mariam Paul Thrissur 2 Naveli Deshmukh Aurangabad 3 Palomi Insan Noida 4 Rushali Yadav Ajmer 5 Vaishnavi Hodalkar Pune

Judges

Final night

• Shivan Bhatia - fashion designer
• Narresh Kukreja - fashion designer
• Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari - filmmaker, writer and author
• Kriti Sanon - actress
• Pankaj Advani - billiards and snooker player
• Kanika Kapoor - singer
• Angad Bedi - actor

For Top 20 finalists

• Srishti Sawhney - President & Global brand director, Pulp & Fibre Business - Aditya Birla Group
• Natasha Grover - National Director, Brand & Operation Head - Femina Miss India
• Sushant Divgikar - Mr. Gay India 2014, performing artist, drag icon, singer, equal rights champion & motivational speaker
• Bhawna Rao - Designer
• Abhishek Sharma - designer
• Saisha Shinde - designer
• Rani Mol - Head, Times Talent
• Supreet Bedi - TV anchor, celebrity host
• Bharat Gupta - fashion consultant, creative director, and stylist
• Noyonita Lodh - Miss Diva 2014
• Neha Jaiswal - Miss Diva 2020 Runner-up

For Top 50 semifinalists

The following eight judges determined the 50 semifinalists.^[16]

• Bharat Gupta - fashion consultant, creative director, and stylist
• Srinidhi Shetty - Miss Supranational 2016
• Bianca Louzado - hair and makeup expert
• Neha Jaiswal - Miss Diva 2020 Runner-up
• Jitesh Thakur - Mister Supranational 2016 2nd Runner-up
• Noyonita Lodh - Miss Diva 2014
• Sushant Divgikar - performing artist, singer, equal rights champion, and motivational speaker
• Shefali Sood - Miss Diva Supranational 2019

Crossovers & returnees

Contestants who previously competed in previous editions of Liva Miss Diva and other local and international beauty pageants with their respective placements.

National pageants

Miss Diva

• 2015: Naveli Deshmukh (2nd Runner Up)
• 2018: Aishwarya Kamal
• 2022: Divita Rai (Miss Universe India)
• 2022: Ojasvi Sharma (Miss Popular Choice)
• 2023: Sonal Kukreja (Miss Supranational India)

Femina Miss India

• 2015: Naveli Deshmukh (Top 10)
• 2019: Harnaaz Sandhu (Top 12)
• 2019: Siddhi Gupta (Top 12)

Miss Teen India

• 2018: Ritika Khatnani (Winner)

International pageants

Miss Teen International

• 2018: Ritika Khatnani (1st Runner Up)

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant

Replacements

1. Replacement — Naveli Deshmukh was appointed to compete at Miss Diva 2021 by the Miss Diva organisation, as a replacement to Akshita Shetty due to unforeseen circumstances. Akshita Shetty was among the Top 20 finalists of the Miss Diva 2021.^[13]