Viveka Babajee (27 May 1973 – 25 June 2010) was a

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. She held the titles of Miss Mauritius World 1993 and Miss Mauritius Universe 1994. She was best known for her KamaSutra condom advertisements in the 1990s, and for her involvement in the so-called "Manila Film Festival" scam of 1994. Babajee was found hanging from the

ceiling fan A ceiling fan is a mechanical fan, fan mounted on the ceiling of a room or space, usually electric power, electrically powered, that uses hub-mounted rotation, rotating blades to wikt:circulation, circulate air. They cool people effectively by ...

in her apartment on 25 June 2010, at her Bandra residence in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. The police reports stated that she committed suicide due to depression.

Early life

The youngest of four sisters, Babajee was born in

Port Louis Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's e ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

on 27 May 1973. Her mother is Maharashtrian and was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. Babajee moved to India in the mid-1990s.

Career

Babajee achieved success in India with

KamaSutra condoms KamaSutra Condoms is India's second largest condom brand. It is manufactured by J.K. Ansell Ltd. (JKAL), which was a 50:50 joint venture between Raymond Group, India's largest fabric and branded apparel company, and Ansell Limited. It is now owned ...

commercials. She also participated in music videos for Daler Mehndi's "Boom Boom",

Harbhajan Mann Harbhajan Singh Mann (born 30 December 1965) is an Indian-Canadian singer, actor and film producer associated with Punjabi music and cinema. His movies include ''Jee Aayan Nu (2002)'', ''Asa Nu Mann Watnan Da (2004)'', ''Heer Ranjha (2009)'' and ...

's "Hai Meri Billo" and

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

's "Phir Se". In 2009, her company, Cream Events, achieved success with the help of her ex-boyfriend and business partner, Kartik Jobanputra. She later broke all ties with Cream Events. As a model, Babajee walked the ramp for top designers including

Ritu Kumar Ritu Kumar is an Indian fashion designer. Early life and education The lack of educational opportunities in Amritsar led her to move to Simla for her schooling, where she attended Loreto Convent. She later studied at Lady Irwin College, where ...

Ritu Beri Ritu Beri is an Indian fashion designer. She became head of the Ready to Wear section of French fashion brand, Jean-Louis Scherrer, in March 2002. She launched a not-for-profit organisation, The Luxury League to promote creativity and innovat ...

, Abu Jani and

Sandeep Khosla Sandeep Khosla is a noted Indian fashion designer, who co-owns the label, Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. He is best known for his ability to infuse Indian craftsmanship and textile heritage with European tailored silhouette. His signature is to combi ...

Rohit Bal Rohit Bal is an Indian fashion designer. He designs for both men and women. Early life Rohit Bal was born in the city of Srinagar in the Jammu and Kashmir state of India on 8 May 1961 into a Kashmiri Pandit family. Bal received his Bach ...

, Suneet Varma,

JJ Valaya JJ Valaya (born 8 October 1967) is an Indian fashion designer and couturier from New Delhi, India. He founded the House of Valaya, a luxury fashion and lifestyle house in 1992, along with his brother TJ Singh. A founding member of Fashion Desi ...

Tarun Tahiliani Tarun Tahiliani is a noted Indian fashion designer. With his wife Sailaja 'Sal' Tahiliani, he co-founded Ensemble, India’s first multi-designer boutique in 1987, followed by Tahiliani Design studio in 1990. Based in Delhi, he is best known for ...

, and many others. In January 2010, she started her own event management business and managed projects like the Arjun Khanna show by Taj Colaba. Her company was named "VIBGYOR ENT" (Lifestyle and Boutik Events). VIBGYOR is an acronym for the seven colors of the rainbow (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange & Red). Viveka Babajee had been an anchor for FTV India. She made her debut film appearance in ''

Yeh Kaisi Mohabbat ''Yeh Kaisi Mohabbat'' is a 2002 Hindi musical drama romance cum thriller movie directed by Dinkar Kapur. It featured Krishna Abhishek, Deeksha, Sharad Kapoor, Deepak Tijori, Viveka Babajee, and Mukesh Rishi in pivotal roles. Actress Deeksha wa ...

'', co-starring with Deeksha and Krishna, released in 2002. Even though the movie did poorly at the box office, Babajee's performance did not go unnoticed.

Death

She was found hanging from the

in her apartment on 25 June 2010, at her Bandra residence in Mumbai. The police reports stated that Babajee committed suicide due to depression. The last entry in her diary, which was found next to her body, said, "you killed me, Gautam Vohra," and unconfirmed reports stated that she became depressed after separating from her boyfriend, Gautam Vora. However, in 2012, the case was re-opened by police after Gautam Vohra was arrested in connection with a murder case.

Filmography

References

External links