Bengaluru, 17 July

Imagine doing a 36-hour shift in a hospital and then turning up willingly the next day to chip away the imperfections to become a beauty queen? That is what Shruti Hegde, a doctor and a beauty queen from Hubballi, Karnataka, has been doing since 2018. This Kannadiga’s hard work has paid off though.

A little over a month ago, on 10 June, Shruti Hegde became India’s first Miss Universal Petite, a pageant that was started in 2009 to give opportunity to shorter women, who found themselves often dwarfed by the amazonian standards when it comes to height.

The pageantry is held in Tampa, Florida in the United States of America, every year. “It was not easy for sure. I realised that being a doctor is a lot more work than I initially thought. Yes, it becomes too much at times. But I don’t think I will be choosing one over the other. Instead, I want to find a balance between both,” said Hegde to PTI.

When she took the pageantry route, Hegde said she never gave much thought to winning. “I am always wanting to do new things, and I guess it is almost every small-town girl’s dream – to be a beauty queen. So, I thought I’ll just give it a try. It helped that I had a mother who is keener than me that I should do what I want to do,” said Hegde.

That is how Hedge found herself signing up for Miss Dharwad contest in 2018. But when she made it to the finals, things took a serious turn. “During the course of the contest, I realized that I was learning a lot of life lessons too – the kind that will help me be a better person and be better equipped to tackle any kind of situation. So, I decided to give my all to it, and see where it took me,” said Hegde, who is currently pursuing MD in dermatology in Tumakuru, a city about 70 km away from Bengaluru.

But she soon hit the next roadblock. Not only did a small town like Hubballi have the necessary means for all the preparations required to become a beauty queen, but she also had to take a break and deal with a medical emergency. “In 2019, I was diagnosed with benign ovarian and uterine tumours and had to undergo open surgery. This ate up two years of my life – 2019 and 2020 – as I recuperated. I thought that was the end of my pageantry career for a while. Again, my mother wouldn’t let me off so easily. She stood behind me like a rock,” said Hegde.

And so, Hegde said she bounced back, went tripping all over India, taking classes to get herself the poised look of a beauty queen. “There’s so much to it – diction, clothing, walking… And initially, you will have to spend for all that, a couple of lakhs at least. But by now nothing could stop me, I wanted to go all the way,” said Hedge.

Once she won a big title – the second runner-up of Miss Asia International India 2023 – financial strain lessened a lot, said Hegde. “I started getting sponsors for my clothes and stuff. Which was a relief because earlier I had only a couple of outfits that I was forced to wear to different pageantries,” Hegde.

As expected, pageantry opened other doors in the entertainment industry. Since 2023, Hegde said she has been receiving offers to act in serials and films. “Again, I ventured into it cautiously. Started first with serials. But the film that I just finished shooting for, ‘Sharanara Shakti’, made me realise a film career may not be a bad thing,” added Hegde.

Hegde said she just played a dancer in the period film that traces the life of the 12th century philosopher, poet and social reformer Basavanna. “I realised that the Kannada film industry is again opening itself, making it possible for films like ‘Sharanara Shakti’. It’s perhaps the best time to be an actor here. I have now decided to take that plunge and see where it goes,” said Hegde.

Hegde added that she is shooting right now for ‘Janumadata’, another odd-ball film that explores the undercurrent of the tense relationship between a father and son. “I play the lead this time – the girlfriend who encourages the guy to face things head-on even as he struggles to accept his father as he is,” said Hegde.