Perfectly Poised Manushi Chhillar

She's been a winner for most of her life. Acing school, dancing and performing on stage, cracking her medical entrance exams, winning the most prestigious beauty pageant in the world, and starring in a historical Bollywood epic and she's just getting started! What makes the former Miss World tick? Besides her sense of self-belief, it's stepping out of her comfort zone - be it in action films or fashion and realising that a tiny bit of imperfection can be a good thing. HELLO! delves deep into her world

It's an overcast afternoon, but the air is clear, with a whiff of a late monsoon following a short shower over Mehrauli, New Delhi. Down a flight of stairs and into the Bentchair Studio, a posse of camerapersons, stylists and makeup artists are focused on the last shot of the day, with former Miss World and current Bollywood beauty Manushi Chhillar, poised gracefully atop a cabinet, the colours of her outfit creating a contrast with the wallpaper.

In a few minutes, after a change of clothes, the willowy, auburn-haired actor is sitting opposite me, her large eyes framed by long lashes.

"Here, let me hold that for you," she says, as she takes my iPhone with the recorder on.

"People think I'm a small-town girl, but I'm pretty much a city girl. I grew up in Delhi.

My parents were both doctors (her father was in the Ministry of Defence), and until I was seven, we lived in Bangalore." Manushi had an idyllic childhood in the comfort of a nuclear family, with two siblings.

"My parents were my best friends," she smiles. "We were a housefull, the five of us. My sister was more of a second mom to me, and my parents taught us everything from riding a bike to dribbling a basketball and even playing badminton." An excellent student, the young Manushi was more interested in participating in school dances or plays, and then painting in the art room. She was encouraged to take up dance classes street jazz with Ashley Lobo (all the rage back then) and then Kuchipudi with Raja and Radha Shetty. A 'strategist' when it came to her studies, Manushi says she learnt to crack the exam system and got into medical college in Sonepat. But in her second year, Miss India came calling.

"Every girl thinks of Miss India. I first saw it live on TV when I was in middle school.