Yukta Inderlal Mookhey is an Indian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She represented India at Miss World 1999 and eventually won the contest, becoming the fourth Indian woman to win Miss World. She has worked in a few Hindi films, and is also involved in social work.
In 1999, Mookhey entered herself into the Femina Miss India contest, where she was shortlisted as a contestant. At the grand finale, she was crowned as Miss India World 1999 by the outgoing titleholder Annie Thomas, giving her the right to represent India at the Miss World 1999 contest.
Miss World
The 49th edition of the Miss World pageant was held on 4 December 1999 at Olympia, London and 93 delegates from around the world competed for the title. At the end of the event, Mookhey was crowned as Miss World 1999 by her predecessor Linor Abargil from Israel. She also won the Asia & Oceania’s Queen of Beauty Award during the Miss World contest. Mookhey became the fourth woman from India to win Miss World after Reita Faria in 1966, Aishwarya Rai in 1994 and Diana Hayden in 1997.
Social works
After Mookhey's tenure as Miss World, she involved herself in various social and charitable causes. She has worked for the people affected by HIV/AIDS, breast cancer and thalassemia. Mookhey has pledged to donate her organs. In connection with this, she stated, “This step will benefit someone, once I leave this world”. She also works as an educationist and provides motivational counseling in various platforms. She has partnered with an NGO to guide young girls from the slums, nudging them towards self-contemplation, their needs and becoming aware of their bodies, through counseling. , on Martyrs' Day Mookhey is an environmental activist, and has participated in various clean drives and social movements to prevent afforestation. In 2018, she joined a campaign to prevent illegal tree cutting talking place at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, to pave way for road and metro constructions. During the movement, she stated - “I don't see any reason behind constructing road and metro from the sanctuary. The metro can be constructed underground and the road can be made elsewhere. Humans are not capable of making of what ‘Mother Earth’ can do. So we are just asking to stop the works and also stop cutting the trees.” She also consigned a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation's Heritage Cell, to include the bird sanctuary in the list of national heritage sites. She supports the Swachh Kalyani Nagar initiative in Pune, and had campaigned the households to process their waste effectively through segregation and recycling, ensuring minimum to zero garbage generation from individual societies.
Personal life
On 7 September 2008, Mookhey got engaged to Prince Tuli, a New York-based businessman and financial consultant at a ceremony held at the Grand Maratha in Mumbai. The marriage was held on 2 November 2008 in a traditional Sikh ceremony at a Nagpur Gurudwara followed by a reception. They have one son together. In July 2013, Mookhey accused her husband and in-laws of subjecting her to domestic violence and harassment, and a FIR was registered under Sections 498A and 406 of the Indian Penal Code. She also accused Tuli under IPC section 377. In June 2014, the couple obtained a consensual divorce.
Film career
Mookhey entered the film industry in 2001 through the Tamil movie Poovellam Un Vasam, where she appeared in a song titled "Yukta Mookhey". She made her Hindi film debut with Pyaasa in 2002 starring with Aftab Shivdasani. The film proved to be a flop at the box office. Yukta was cast in Market but had to drop out due to an injury. In 2003, she signed Kab Kyon Kahan and Hum Teeno, but both films where later shelved. She was later signed up in the 2004 release, but had to drop the project. In 2005, she acted in two films Memsahab and Love in Japan and in 2006, she appeared in the music video Kathputali. After a long break, she appeared in the 2019 film Good Newwz.
