TICKET TO STARDOM

With significant professional and monetary gratification, Miss India is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for aspiring beauty queens. After a nationwide search with pageants in seven cities and 13 city auditions, the final round of auditions for the Pond’s Femina Miss India 2013 pageant is slated for Mumbai on February 11. The country’s oldest pageant, which completes 50 years in 2013, is all set to select the next batch of stars and turn their dreams into reality. And the winners don’t just get monetary gratification that run into crores, but also significant professional opportunities in the worlds of Bollywood and glamour. Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen, Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai, Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta, and Miss World 2000 Priyanka Chopra, are among the Miss Indias who’ve made it big. The auditions for this year’s pageant began in Nagpur and concluded in Shillong, and traversed the length and breadth of the country. From Tier II cites like Nagpur, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Amritsar, Shimla, Jammu, Dehradun, Guwahati, and Shillong to cosmopolitan ones like Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Indore, Chandigarh, New Delhi and Kolkata, which played host to the city pageants, the pageant has transitioned into a national exercise. And the winners of the city pageants have won a golden ticket to the grand finale.  Marc Robinson, creative director, Miss India, says, “Miss India is a legacy, an institution, and its 50 year celebrations will be an act truly hard to follow or match. The pageant is representative of national diversity in beauty and in contestant participation, with auditions and city pageants being held across 20 cities all over India and the final auditions in Mumbai.” The final round of auditions for Miss India 2013 will be held on February 11 at the Grand Ballroom at Hotel Westin Mumbai Garden City, the official hospitality partner, which will also be hosting the training and stay for the pageant in its 50th year. Registration starts at 11 am for participants from across the country. Special thanks to Times of India for this content. Please do join us on our facebook group page ‘Prem United’ for comments and additional blog post follow ups.