Mumbai:
Madhuri Dixit is the name of an underrated teacher who, in the span of a song, taught a generation of Indians to count. On Tuesday, the gifted dancer seemed to pull off the same trick at a pageant which had just as many contestants as the number of days her ‘Tezaab’ character spent waiting for her beloved in the foot-tapping chartbuster ‘Ek Do Teen’.
At fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2018 co-powered by Sephora & Rajnigandha Pearls, Dixit’s graceful performance set the stage for the 30 svelte, spraytanned participants, from across the country. Departing from the norm of cocktail gowns and high heels, the beauties arrived in traditional wear representing their home states and launched into indigenous dances on the glassy stage of NSCI Dome in Worli.
For the second time in the history of the lookfest—which is now in its 55th edition—the contestants were divided into four zones and mentored by models and actresses, including Neha Dhupia (North), Rakul Preet Singh (South), Pooja Chopra (East) and Pooja Hegde (West). South prevailed in the contest. Tamil Nadu’s Anukreethy Vas from Tamil Nadu, who credited her single mother as her inspiration, was crowned fbb Colors Femina Miss India World 2018. Haryana’s Meenakshi Chaudhary, who confessed that her father’s demise this year taught her the importance of picking herself up as time waits for no one, and Andhra Pradesh’s Shreya Rao Kamavarapu, an architect who is working on a thesis on architecture and autism that focuses on building friendly environments for those suffering from autism, were runners-up.
All three were earnestness personified in their replies. To the final question, “Who is a better teacher in life, success or failure?” Vas replied, “Failure is a better teacher because if you get continuous success, your growth will stop. Failure is what saw me through my struggles. It’s only the criticism which I faced that made me the confident woman in society that I am. Failure might haunt you but success will wish you.” Chaudhary felt failure was the better teacher as it makes you understand what success means to you while Kamavarapu, who believed success and failure are only the outcomes, called “journey” the better teacher. Incidentally, Vas also won the ‘Miss Beauty With a Purpose Award’ for working towards education of the transgender community while Kamavarapu won the fbb Miss Multimedia award at the event.
The evening opened with Miss World 2017 Manushi Chillar, who was one of the judges, arriving on a moving throne only to find her royal entry offset by the admittedly “cheap” jokes of hosts Karan Johar and Ayushmann Khurrana.
Lending more stardust to the highlight reel of the evening were actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez who burnt up the stage with their moves, a stage that Dixit had left on fire with not just her moves but her catwalk with actor Malaika Arora Khan.
In a way, the pageant that featured seven porcelain faces from the North East spoke to the ramp's growing urge to embrace diversity. Culled from numerous entries from across the country, the 30 finalists included a roller hockey player, a dentist, an engineer, a product designer and an architect among a majority of students and models. On Tuesday, they were judged on the basis of talent, intelligence, poise and elegance.
REFERENCE | TIMES OF INDIA | 20/06/2018
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