Parvathy Omanakuttan is an Indian model-turned-actress and entrepreneur. She won the Femina Miss India 2008 and was the first runner-up at Miss World 2008 held in Johannesburg, South Africa. She also won the Asia & Oceania continental titles at the Miss World 2008 beauty pageant.
Wiki/Biography
Parvathy Omanakuttan was born on Friday, 13 March 1987 (aged 36 as of 2023) in Changanassery, Kerala, India. She was four years old when her family moved to Mumbai, India because of her father’s job. She studied at Sheth Chunilal Damodardas Barfivala High School (SCDBHS) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She pursued a bachelor’s degree in English Literature (2002-2007) at Mithibai College in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. She then pursued a Diploma of Education (Culinary Arts/Chef Training) between March 2018 and October 2018, at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York City, New York, United States. During her time at the ICE, she won the 2018 Allagash scholarship. She is fondly called ‘Paro’ by her family and friends.
Physical Appearance
Height: 5′ 9″
Hair Colour: Dark Brown
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
She belongs to a Malayali Hindu family in Changanassery, Kerala, India. She is a firm believer in God’s ways and chants the Hanuman Chalisa and she has always tried to visit temples whenever possible and seek blessings.
Parents & Siblings
Her father, Omanakuttan Nair, was a former Food and Beverage Manager at Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, and her mother, Sreekala Omanakuttan, was a housewife. She has a younger brother, Jaysurya Panicker.
Parvathy Omanakuttan’s parents
Parvathy Omanakuttan with her brother
A childhood picture of Parvathy Omanakuttan with her parents
Relationships/Affairs
In 2019, Parvathy shared a picture with her boyfriend Ronak Shah on her Instagram page with the caption, You bring the best in me Love You. Some reports suggested they met each other for the first time in the United States when Parvati was a student at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, New York. They both became close friends soon and started dating each other, and reports suggested that they had informed their families about their relationship.
Parvathy Omanakuttan with her boyfriend
Signature/Autograph
Parvathy Omanakuttan’s signature
Career
Beauty pageants
Parvathy was crowned as the Navy Queen at the Navy Ball 2006 held in Kochi, Kerala, India. She retained her crown at the Navy Ball 2007 held in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Following her victory in the Navy Ball 2007, she received a straight entry into the Miss India South 2008.
Miss India South 2008
Parvathy won the first ever Pantaloons Femina Miss India South 2008, held in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This was her first major pageant victory and granted her a direct entry among the ten finalists of the Femina Miss India 2008. She also won the sub-titles of Miss Beautiful Hair and Miss Best Catwalk in the Miss India South 2008 pageant.
Femina Miss India 2008
She made history by becoming the first Keralite to win the Miss India contest on 5 April 2008. The victory allowed her to represent India at the grandest international beauty pageant, Miss World (2008).
Parvathy Omanakuttan crowned as the Femina Miss India 2008
Miss World 2008
She represented India at the 58th Miss World held in Johannesburg, South Africa. On 13 December 2008, Parvathy was named the First Runner-Up in the final after she lost to Ksenia Sukhinova of Russia. She also won the Asia & Oceania continental titles. She became Second in the Top Model and Fifth place in the Beach Beauty sub-contests.
Parvathy Omanakuttan at the Miss World 2008
Film
Hindi
In 2011, she made her Bollywood debut with Mahesh Bhatt’s directorial United Six. The movie was a commercial flop and received negative reviews. Parvathy played the role of Nikita Malkholkar (Nikki) opposite Akshay Oberoi in Pizza (2014). In 2018, she was cast in Dobaara directed by Bejoy Nambiar.
A location picture of Parvathy Omanakuttan (second from left) from the movie United Six
Parvathy Omanakuttan with Bejoy Nambiar at the screening of Dobaara for SAIFF in New York City
Tamil
She made her debut in the Tamil film industry with Billa II and played the role of Jasmine (the protagonist’s niece and love interest). The movie was heavily anticipated by the fans but received mixed reviews from critics and fans.
Parvathy with Ajith Kumar in the film Billa 2
She was then cast in Nithin Ramakrishnan’s directorial Uma Maheshwaram, but the film was later shelved. In 2016, she did a cameo role as Dharani in the film Nambiyaar. Parvathy was then cast as the lead heroine opposite veteran actor Vadivelu in the film ‘Imsai Arasan 24am Pulikesi’ however the filming had to stop in between due to some issues between the cast and the production team.
Malayalam
Parvathy made her debut in the Malayalam film industry with KQ (2013). The movie failed at the Kerala box office and received negative reviews.
Television Shows
In 2017, she participated in the Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 7, an Indian stunt reality series, shot in Argentina and hosted by Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor. She reached the semifinals of the show but lost to Raghav Juyal in the elimination stunt and was out of the show.
Parvathy Omanakuttan with Raghav Juyal and Mukti Mohan
Controversies
Misquoted or Questioned?
Parvathy was overwhelmed with emotion when she realised that she did not win the Miss World and confessed to the media about her disappointment. Some reports suggested that she questioned the decision of the judges and pointed out that it was unfair that she was named as the First Runner-Up, and claimed that she deserved to win the Miss World However, the former Miss India denied these allegations and claimed that she had not made any such comments and was misquoted.
The Director Cheated Me!
In an interview, she revealed that the director of her debut Malayalam film KQ, Baiju Johnson, tricked her. She pointed out that Baiju had promised her the movie was a bilingual film and had a popular Tamil actor in the lead role, however, Parvathy found out that Baiju himself was to enact the lead role after the film had started shooting. She described him as a failure both as an actor and a director, and let out that she had hoped that the movie would not be released.
Tricolour and Patriotism
Parvathy landed in trouble when her photos taken in a dress with the tricolour went viral on social media. Following this many called for action against the model and questioned her choice to wear an outfit which featured the national flag on it. In an interview, she said that patriotism lies in bigger things and pointed out that the practice of leaving the national flag a few days after Independence day unnoticed and carelessly was truly saddening. implored the youth to ignore small things and to move forward united as a nation.
Facts/Trivia
- Parvathy Omanakuttan did an internship under Michelin star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten at his vegetarian restaurant abcV, she was inspired and intrigued by different plant-based gourmet dishes and has since started learning about traditional dishes. In an interview, she pointed out that it was after joining the food industry she got to know about the amount of wastage that happens in the hotel industry. Since she has since tried to bridge the food gap by raising awareness and labelled it as one of her visions in life.
- In an interview, she revealed that she does not follow any particular diet and that she was a major foodie and loves to try different cuisines; dark chocolates are her favourite and she avoids aerated drinks and works out to stay fit. She loves jackfruit.
Parvathy Omanakuttan eating jackfruit
- She used to follow functional training but was forced to end it following a knee injury. She then started focusing on her health by swimming, kickboxing, practising Ashtanga Yoga and doing aerial silk acrobatics. She is a trained Indian classical dancer and loves music. She also loves to play basketball and badminton.
Parvathy practising aerial silk acrobatics
Parvathy Omanakuttan doing yoga
- Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam is her all-time favourite director.
- In an interview, while she was asked about the main differences that she felt between the North Indian film industry and the South Indian film industry, she pointed out that the South Indian film industry was more organised and punctual compared to Bollywood.
- Parvathy replaced Huma Qureshi who was supposed to make her debut in the Tamil film industry as the lead heroine opposite Ajith Kumar in Billa II. Huma had to opt out of the film because of the clash in dates.
- On 15 February 2021, she delivered a speech at the TEDx event held at Royal Global University, Guwahati, Assam, India.
Parvathy Omanakuttan speaking at the TEDx Royal Global University
- Her father was working at Taj’s Shamiana when the 2008 Mumbai attacks occurred. In an interview, one of Parvathy’s cousins said that Omanakuttan worked on the day shift and had left for home before the attack.
- In an interview, she said that Kerala was her janmabhoomi and Mumbai was her karmabhoomi. She added that even though she was brought up in Mumbai, India, she was a typical Kerala girl at heart and they used to speak Malayalam at their home. She can speak four languages, English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Marathi.
- Parvathy Omanakuttan was a member of the panel of judges for the Miss India South 2014. She was on the panel of judges for Dhwayah Queen 2017, Kerala’s first transgender beauty pageant. Parvathy was the mentor for the South Zone in the Femina Miss India 2017, while Neha Dhupia, Dipannita Sharma, and Waluscha De Sousa were the other three mentors.
Parvathy Omanakuttan with the winners of Femina Miss India 2017
Parvathy Omanakuttan (extreme left) with her fellow mentors of the Femina Miss India 2017
- She was an ardent animal lover and often posted pictures of her pet cat Jaadu on her social media.
Parvathy with her pet cat
- In an interview, she revealed that she was surprised by her character’s screen space in Billa II. Parvathy added that she had shot more scenes for the movie, but added that it was ultimately the director’s call to decide upon the character’s screen presence. Bruna Abdullah who was a supporting actress in the film had more screen time than Parvathy’s character.
- She follows a non-vegetarian diet and consumes alcohol.
Parvathy Omanakuttan was spotted drinking beer with her brother
- She was the goodwill ambassador of the Genesis Foundation (NGO), an organization aimed to help children belonging to poor families who are diagnosed with congenital heart defects. In 2010, Parvathy hosted a fundraiser (‘CEOs Sing for their Supper’) organised by the Genesis Foundation to raise money for the treatment of children with heart diseases.
- In an interview, she said that she was an ardent car enthusiast and had kept herself updated about all the newest models in the market.
- In 2015, Parvathy pledged that she would be donating her organs, she announced her decision on the day of her 25th birthday. She prefers small intimate birthday celebrations with close friends and family over lavish birthday parties.
Parvathy Omanakuttan celebrating her birthday with her family
- In an interview, she revealed that two senior directors had made direct (sexual) suggestions to her for casting her in their films and added that she had rejected their advances. She added that her debut film United Six failed at the box office, even though it had a good story because of its poor promotion. She then said,
Everyone would expect to be launched by Yash Raj or Karan Johar or Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But everyone is not that lucky,”
- She had travelled to different countries to raise awareness against gender discrimination, child abuse, and environmental protection. Parvathy visited Mongolia along with former Miss Mongolia Nicole Gantagoo, to raise awareness among women and children who were suffering from domestic violence.
- In an interview, she said that was fascinated and interested in snakes from her childhood, but disliked insects and particularly lizards.
Parvathy Omanakuttan at the sets of Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi 7
- Indian actress Taapsee Pannu was also a contestant in the Femina Miss India 2008, which Parvathy won. Taapsee won the Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face and Safi Femina Miss Beautiful titles.
- In an interview, she said that she is a movie buff and loves watching horror films and romantic comedies. She added that she had felt some supernatural presence while she was shooting for her Hindi film Pizza.
- Parvathy had always stated her dream was to open a food venture. She partnered with her mother and started an endeavour through which they organise lunches and dinners in authentic Kerala cuisines. Parvathy described her mother as her strong support system and recalled how her mother gave her the strength to stay strong at the Miss World 2008 competition after she lost out on the crown by a whisker.
Parvathy Omanakuttan with her mother
- In 2018, after spending a decade in the fashion industry, she realized that she was no longer happy and decided to pursue her childhood passion for food and moved to New York, United States. In 2020, she moved from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Parvathy Omanakuttan at the Dubai Water Canal, UAE
- In an interview, she revealed that she met the famous Indian fashion designer Hemant Trivedi while studying at the Mithibai College in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Trivedi was choreographing the Miss India contest at the time and met Parvathy as a participant in one of the inter-college events in which he choreographed. She said that he made her walk thrice during her first auction with him and labelled him as one of her strong support sources.
Hemant Trivedi with Parvathy Omanakuttan
- In an interview, she revealed that she was very short-tempered and impatient during her youth and changed her ways as she understood such behaviour won’t take her anywhere.
- She was an adventurous child and wanted to become an airforce pilot, to fly the MiG-21 fighter planes. She loves travelling, trekking, scuba diving and skiing. In an interview, she said that as a child she used to love travelling from Mumbai, India to Kerala, India during the school summer vacations; it was after 2008 when Parvathy started travelling extensively as part of her job. She added that she would often extend her stay whenever she visited a foreign place and tried to understand and observe their culture, and lifestyle and would visit places and enjoy their cuisines. She loves to explore historical places and monuments and would try to understand and relish their history. She prefers places which are close to nature and not so popular over touristy places. In 2016, she trekked the Chandrashila in Uttarakhand, India and spent New year’s eve on the banks of the Ganges, she labelled it as a special moment. She did river rafting in Himachal Pradesh, India and went scuba diving in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and pointed out that she was fascinated by the scuba diving experience.
Parvathy Omanakuttan and her friends, river rafting in Himachal Pradesh, India
Parvathy Omanakuttan skiing
- Parvathy Omanakuttan started modelling at the age of eighteen and had done many runaway walks.
A photograph of Parvathy Omanakuttan from a runway walk
Parvathy Omanakuttan with fashion designer Apeksha Binoj
A picture of Parvathy Omanakuttan from the SNDT Chrysalis 2012 fashion show
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education