Viveka Babajee

Born: 27 May 1973

Viveka Babajee was a Mauritian beauty queen and actress who made her mark on Bollywood in the 1990s, though her life was tragically cut short. Born in Port Louis, Mauritius in 1973, she arrived in India with impressive credentials—Miss Mauritius World 1993 and Miss Mauritius Universe 1994—ready to conquer the entertainment industry. She became a household name thanks to her iconic KamaSutra condom advertisements that ran throughout the decade, making her one of the most recognizable faces of that era. However, her career also became entangled in controversy when she was caught in the center of the infamous 1994 Manila Film Festival scandal, which overshadowed much of her later work and public perception. Beyond the glitz and the scandals, Viveka brought a fresh, international flavor to Bollywood during a time when the industry was still evolving its global appeal. Her striking presence and modeling background gave her a distinctive style that set her apart from her contemporaries, and she contributed to normalizing conversations around intimate products in Indian cinema—a bold move for the 1990s. Despite her initial promise and the opportunities that came her way, Viveka's personal struggles eventually took a toll. She passed away on June 25, 2010, in her Bandra apartment in Mumbai, leaving behind a complicated legacy that reminds us of the darker side of fame and the pressures of the entertainment world.