Beauty Blitz

Its not that Indian girls have become prettier all of a sudden. Its just that they are more professionally prepared for contests nowadays, writes Meher Castelino.

The key factor here is - preparation.  Beauty contests are a business, which require the correct training to make an impact.  Venezeula knew it years ago and has grooming schools for beauty queens.  Even in the USA and UK aspiring contestants go through training and then move from contest to contest to get the necessary experience.

When I went for the Miss Universe contest in 1964 to Miami Beach, Florida, I was the first representative sent by Femina to that contest. I had to use my intelligence and financial resources to clothe myself.  I went to the local darzi with some glittering fabrics and selected a dress design, which I thought would be just right (how wrong I was!), a few saris, salwar kurtas and jewellery along with 2-3 pairs of shoes and I was ready.  I had two small bags all packed and set to make an impression.

When I arrived in Miami Beach I realised I was the most ill equipped contestant. I had to compete with girls who had with them an entourage of persons from dress designer, hairstylist, makeup men, PR agents to advertisers who guided the girl every day as to what she should wear and say. Since there were no question and answer rounds I couldn’t even display my knowledge.

The gown I had taken looked terrible (it would never have won any award). Fortunately for me, my room mate Miss Michigan had five beautiful gowns with her and she lent me one so my evening gown matched the gorgeous ones worn by the other girls. For the national costume I wore a lovely red brocade sari. It was eye catching no doubt but it was nowhere near the dramatic costumes that the girls wear today.

On my return from the contest I informed Femina about what future contestants from our country should do to make an impact.  Unfortunately, no one bothered till 30 years later in 1994 when a program was charted out to give the beauty queens the necessary training and backup in the form of wardrobes, makeup, hairstyling, speech, etc. from experts.

So India has two Miss Universe winners -- Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.  We also have five Miss World Queens -- Aishwariya Rai in 1994, Diane Hayden in 1996, Yukta Mookhey in 1999 and Priyanka Chopra in 2000. The only other big win was Rita Faria -- Miss World in 1965.  An Indian -- Diya Mirza -- even managed to clinch the Miss Asia Pacific Crown in 2000.

Today the best designers in the country dress Indian beauty queens.  Hemant Trevedi and the Sheetal Design Studio spend months creating the onstage wardrobes of the girls.  Ritu Kumar sets her craftsmen into motion to create the most dramatic national costumes that have won for her many awards.  Bharat and Doris Godambe teach the beauties make-up and hairstyle tricks, while Sabira Merchant guides them through the correct pronunciation in English. No wonder they all end up sounding like the Queen of England!  Experts take care of all the diet, teeth, skin, body and even their mind's problems.  So the final product that Femina sends has to be a winner.

2000 has been a super year for India and of course Femina.  All three girls selected bagged beauty crowns around the world.  It will be a long time before this hat trick can be equalled in the century.  But till then let’s enjoy the reputation of being a country that has beautiful and intelligent women. Let’s not be sore winners.  That should be left to the rest of the world who has suddenly realised that India is a country to reckon with in the beauty business.