Deepika and Siddharth Mallya at Kingfisher Calendar Girl 2011

The Kingfisher Calendar was an annual calendar featuring models in swimsuits published by the Indian conglomerate

United Breweries Group United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), also called UB Group, is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in UB City, Bangalore, Karnataka. Its core business includes beverages and investments in various sectors. The company markets beer un ...

for 19 years from 2003 to 2021. Described by

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

as "arguably the most prestigious odelling assignmentin India", it was credited with advancing the careers of models and actresses like

Katrina Kaif Katrina Kaif (; born Katrina Turquotte; 16 July 1983) is a British actress who works in Hindi-language films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has received accolades, including four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, in a ...

Deepika Padukone Deepika Padukone ( or ; born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in India, and her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most pop ...

Yana Gupta Yana Gupta (born Jana Synková; 23 April 1979) is a Czechs, Czech model and actress who lives and works in India. Early life Gupta was born as Jana Synková in 1979 in Brno, South Moravian Region, Czech Socialist Republic, Czech SR, Czecho ...

Sonali Raut Sonali Raut (born 23 December 1990) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Hindi films. She has been a Kingfisher Calendar Girl in 2010, Raut was just 19 years old college student when she featured in the Kingfisher Calendar. Raut made he ...

Ujjwala Raut Ujjwala Raut (born 11 June 1978) is an Indian supermodel. Career Raut was a 17-year-old commerce student when she won "Femina Look of the Year" at the Femina Miss India 1996 contest. She was also among the top fifteen in the 1996 Elite Model Loo ...

Nargis Fakhri Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...

, Bruna Abdullah, Deepti Gujral,

Lisa Haydon Elisabeth Marie Haydon is an Indian actress, TV presenter and model, who mainly appears in Hindi films. Haydon made her acting debut with the ensemble romantic comedy-drama '' Aisha'' (2010) and received critical praise for her performance in the ...

, Aishwarya Sushmita and

Angela Jonsson Angela Jonsson (born 28 February 1990) is an Indian model and actress who shot to fame after she won the Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt in 2011. Personal life Jonsson was born on 28 February 1990 in Chennai to a father from Iceland and a moth ...

. Photographer Atul Kasbekar has been associated with the calendar since its inception in 2003 till its final issue in 2021. Kasbekar along with

Vijay Mallya Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. T ...

are credited with the idea of creating the annual Kingfisher Calendar.

Photographers, locations, models and production

Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt

07 Nathalia Department - Flickr - rgvzoomin

The ''Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt,'' now known as ''Kingfisher Supermodels'' is an annual competition to select a model for the annual calendar. Started in 2010, the competition has been televised by

NDTV Good Times ''Goodtimes'' is the flagship channel of Lifestyle & Media Broadcasting Ltd. It was launched in September 2007. Rebranding Goodtimes underwent a makeover in November 2013 to redefine the lifestyle entertainment category codes once again. Fro ...

. The format includes competing 10 women in a reality show across 13 episodes.

Winners

Shalini Shah
Sees, shoots and leaves
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', 23 December 2011, Retrieved 12 January 2012. * 2010 –

Himarsha Venkatsamy Himarsha Venkatsamy (born 15 February 1984) is a South African model and actress, known for winning the Kingfisher Calendar Hunt in 2010, defeating Anjali Lavania and Nidhi Sunil in the final round. She made a special appearance in the 2010 B ...

* 2011 –

* 2012 –

Nathalia Kaur Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins, known professionally as Nathalia Kaur, is a Brazilian model and actress who works in Indian cinema. Early life Kaur was born as Nathalia Pinheiro Felipe Martins in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her mother has Portu ...

Kingfisher Calendar Girl
''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'', Retrieved 13 January 2012. * 2013 – Nevena Pejatovic * 2014 – Ketholeno Kense * 2015 –

Aastha Pokharel Aastha Pokharel ( ne, आस्था पोखरेल) is a Nepalese fashion model. She began her professional modeling career in the year 2011. The first big break Pokharel had was being featured on the cover and the editorial of ''Navyaat ...

* 2016 –

Aishwarya Sushmita Aishwarya Sushmita (born 12 July 1994) is an Indian actress. Early life Aishwarya Sushmita was born on 12 July 1994 in Darbhanga, Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th larg ...

In popular culture

There is a 2015 Hindi film called

Calendar Girls ''Calendar Girls'' is a 2003 British comedy film directed by Nigel Cole. Produced by Touchstone Pictures, it features a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi, based on a true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire women who produ ...

based on the Kingfisher Calendar phenomenon.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Recurring events established in 2003 Indian reality television series Modeling-themed reality television series Promotional calendars Annual publications Swimsuits

Photographers, locations, models and production

Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt

Winners

In popular culture

See also

References