“The crown has a new queen and it has come back home after 21 years,” said Shilpa Shetty penning down a heartfelt note for Harnaaz Sandhu who was crowned the Miss Universe 2021 on Monday. At the 70th Miss Universe 2021, held at Israeli Red Sea resort, Eilat, the 21-year-old Punjabi Kudi clinched the crown edging out Paraguay’s Nadia Ferreira and South Africa’s Lalelea Mswane.
Congratulatory notes flooded the social media as Kareena Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Raveena Tandon and many more celebs congratulated Harnaaz, for bringing the crown to India after 21 years.
Lara Dutta who bought the queen home 21 years ago also took to social media and praised the lady. Lara wrote, “Congratulations, @HarnaazSandhu03! Welcome to the club! We’ve waited 21 long years for this! You make us so, so proud! A billion dreams come true!”
Ms Sandhu was presented the crown by Andrea Meza, Miss Universe 2020 from Mexico. The Chandigarh based model, started her career when she was 17. She has previously been crowned Miss Diva 2021, Femina Miss India Punjab 2019 and was even placed in the Top 12 at Femina Miss India 2019.
It was in 1994 when the crown was first bought home by Actress Sushmita Sen. The crown was last claimed by Lara Dutta in 2000 since then India had never made it to the crystal throne.