Nafisa Joseph

Joseph's modelling career started early. At age 12, a neighbour arranged for her to appear in a Wearhouse ad. She was groomed by Prasad Bidapa. In 1997, at age 19, she became the youngest participant in the Miss India pageant and won it. After that, she moved into television. In 1999, she judged MTV India's VJ Hunt and also worked as a VJ for MTV. A screen test led her to host the show MTV House Full, which she ran for nearly five years. She also acted in C.A.T.S., an Indian version of Charlie's Angels, on Sony Entertainment Television. In 2004, she hosted Style on Star World. With her fiancé, Gautam Khanduja, she launched a television programming unit called 2's Company.

Joseph was known for her love of animals. She campaigned for Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and People for Animals (PFA). She wrote a weekly column, 'Nafisa for Animals', in the Bangalore edition of the Times of India. She died by suicide on 29 July 2004 in her flat in Versova, at age 26. She was to marry Gautam Khanduja weeks later. Her parents said the marriage was called off because Joseph discovered Khanduja was still married, despite his claim that he had been divorced for two years. When confronted, he refused to answer questions or provide divorce papers, and reportedly threatened her with blackmail. Her parents filed a police report accusing him of driving her to suicide. The trial against Khanduja was stayed by the Bombay High Court in November 2005. On 8 February 2006, her close friend Kuljeet Randhawa died by suicide in the same manner at age 30.