Ketki N Walsee, a Canadian-Indian model, recently won the Face Of Chennai Beauty Pageant Award. Talking about the whole experience, Ketki reminisces, “It was all surreal. A friend of mine, who is a designer, told me about this contest. I told her I was not sure, because they would want a face from Chennai and the locals had an upper hand in terms of culture and language. However, I gave it a shot and grasped as much as I could in the short period. And I won!”
She feels humbled by the reception she has received in Chennai, “The people have been so welcoming and nice to me. Being an outsider, I never felt like one. It was more like a home-away-from-home experience.”
She has won several national and international contests, but for Ketki the recently-won award is pretty close to her heart. She says, “This is the first time I have won a pageant award in India, and that’s more special to me. It feels organic to win such an award in your motherland. For me, more than winning the award, I won the hearts of people here and that matters a lot to me!”
Ketki is now looking beyond the contest and hopes to venture into acting, and she sounds prepared too — “I have a diploma from Namit Kishore’s acting school and am quite familiar with Bollywood and Tamil films. I am looking forward to having a good opportunity to make my debut, but I don’t want to hurry and make a wrong decision.”
Ketki pronounces the word ‘Tamil’ perfectly and turns enthusiastic when asked about Kollywood — “I love Tamil movies! I recently saw Superstar Rajinikanth’s Kabali. The thing I loved about the film is that it stressed how no one can ever capitalise on evil.”
The Canadian-Indian says that she wants to be unconventional and stand apart, since actors these days are talented in singing and dancing too. That desire has even made her render a rap number Kalyanam for the film Unnoda Ka. “I not only crooned the song, but also wrote the rap myself in just five minutes,” she grins and bids adieu.
