She beat back competition from a bevy of beauties to scoop up the Femina Miss India crown yesterday at a scintillating ceremony at the NSCI Dome, Mumbai. This winner, a college student from Tamil Nadu, is already winning hearts. Young Anukreethy works for transgenders' education and believes a smile keeps everyone going. This is a quality she has imbibed from her mother, who raised her single-handedly.

She shares, “The challenges were there forever starting from school because I am not from a city-based place. I studied in Trichy (Tiruchirappalli) which is not really a city but I was very strong enough because my mother didn't let me down at any point. She used to say, 'You are a strong person. How can you cry?' and that's how she brought me up.”

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Calling her mother her role model, she reveals that she has never seen her mother low. “She has a lot of problems herself but she never showed that to me and that is how I was brought up.”

Anukreethy, who will now represent India at Miss World 2018, had been mentored by Telugu film industry superstar Rakul Preet Singh, who was in-charge of the South zone. Rakul played a large part in training and guiding her young ward.

A believer in the phrase ‘Nothing can dim the light that shines from within,’ she hopes to fulfil her mother’s dream by pursuing a BA in French to become a translator. An alumnus of Loyola College, she is also keen on learning different languages from across the world to increase her intellect.

Simultaneously, she is also a great dancer and a state level athlete. Mad about riding bikes, she also wishes to be a supermodel in the future and yes, she loves to be in front of the camera.

As of now her aspiration is to become a supermodel and we know that is just a few steps away from films. In fact, she already sees herself as a well-established actress! It’s just a matter of time before she makes that dream a reality.