Grooming, Indian mystique behind pageant crowns

See scenes of India's Priyanka Chopra competing in the Miss World 2000 pageant in London

December 2, 2000
Web posted at: 8:26 AM HKT (0026 GMT)

BANGALORE, India (Reuters) -- India's fashion industry hailed the country's fifth Miss World crown on Friday as the coming of age of Indian beauty.

Eighteen-year-old student Priyanka Chopra won the $100,000 prize in London's Millennium Dome on Thursday, making it a double-win for India after 21-year-old Lara Dutta was crowned Miss Universe in Cyprus in May this year.

Prasad Bidappa, a top Indian guru for grooming models, said India had perfected the art of preparing beauty queens.

"The grooming process is so fine-tuned. We are absolutely geared to give world class training," Bidappa told Reuters.

"In a way it signifies the entry of the Indian model on to the world stage," added Bidappa who is regularly swamped with starry-eyed young men and women aspiring to become models.

Vidisha Pavate, India's first international supermodel who has modelled for international agencies in London, Paris, Milan and New York, said that there was a mystery attached to the way Indian women conducted themselves.

"Indian women are beautiful and everyone else in the world seemed to think so, except probably back home," Pavate told Reuters.

Three other Indians have been crowned Miss World since 1994 and two, including Dutta, have won the Miss Universe title.

The slew of pageant victories has boosted the country's nascent fashion industry as young urban boys and girls consider it as a serious career option.

Pavate, whose dusky looks shot her to fame at home, said Indian girls were now building on the experience of the country's impressive line-up of beauty queens.

"Indian girls are now going in with a more positive attitude. We now have the experience of the girls who went to the pageants earlier and won them and know what to expect," she said, predicting that more titles lay ahead for her country.

Anjali Mukerjee, nutritionist to the new Miss World, said she was confident Chopra would emerge a winner.

"She worked hard, she paid attention to every bit of advice, she was a very aware person," said Mukerjee who has been the nutritionist to Indian contestants for the Miss World and Miss Universe titles since 1996.

One fashion industry representative, however, said India's enthusiasm for global pageants was a result of its sheer novelty.

"It is still new for Indians, so we are very enthusiastic about these contests. After 1994, the money, travel and presents have also become a big lure to attract women," said Ramma Bans, a popular health and fitness expert.

"The rest of the world does not take these contests as seriously," she said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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