Krishna Priya ascended the summit of an exacting competition, to be crowned the new Vanita Ratnam  in Amrita TV’s Vanita Ratnam-3; she was coroneted by Urvashi Shobhana, twice National Award winning actress  and went home richer by the winner’s prize of Rs.5 lakhs.

Anuja came in 2nd with a purse of  Rs.3 lakhs, while Padmini  brought up the third spot and the
Rs.2 lakhs that went with it.

Krishna Priya played the chaste Kannagi from the epic Silappadikaram, whose curse makes an entire Kingdom go up in flames; Padmini’s chose Urmila from the Ramayana & Anuja was Rachiyamma from a short story of Uroob, the classic Malayalam novelist ; though all characters were equally well enacted, it was the fiery Kannagi that caught the fancy of the house-full crowd.

Anuja’s visually spectacular ‘Dashavatharam’ and Padmini’s exquisite ‘Ganesha & Shiva Sthuthi’, combining Kuchipudi, folk&  Bharatanatyam  vied with Krishna’s pole dance that blended yoga, gymnastics & acrobatics.

Pin-drop silence descended  in the auditorium, bursting at its seams with the audience, as they watched Krishna perform the dangerous maneuvers on top of a roof high pole, with bursts of  applause piercing the hush after each well-executed perilous move.

At the end of her performance, the capacity crowd surged to its feet, like some great tidal wave, in a spontaneous standing ovation to a extraordinary exhibition of grace , courage & athleticism that won for Krishnapriya the prestigious title & coveted crown of  Vanita Ratnam-3.