Femina Miss India World 2024 Nikita Porwal: I want to be true to myself & make India proud

The crown meant like a personal achievement to me, but today I see it as a responsibility,” says Femina Miss India World 2024, Nikita Porwal, who was recently crowned at the pageant held in Mumbai. Nikita, who hails from Ujjain, says, “Even though I had always envisioned myself doing this, it feels unreal. The dream to become Miss India began when I was seven years old. My mom used to dress me up as participant of the pageant for fancy dress competitions and I would be the winner every single time.”

‘I have to be true to myself, our country and to the women of the country’
Talking about her journey ahead, Nikita who will now represent India at the 73rd edition of the Miss World pageant, says, “I see it as a responsibility as I know millions of girls will be looking up to me as their empowered idol,
like an ambassador representing them on the world stage. So, I have to be true to myself, our country and to the women of our country. I want to make India proud. The Femina Miss India journey taught me to be real. You can fake it for minutes and hours, but when you spend so much time with so many girls in a contest like this, then your real side comes out”

‘Personality ho toh aisi ho ki log aapse baat karne mein do baar sochche’
Nikita shares that her role model is actress and Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. “I believe that Aishwarya is beauty with brains. I feel personality ho toh aisi ho ki log aapse baat karne mein do baar sochche. Woh bhale kitni bhi modern ho, par unke dil mein India basta hai. I come from the spiritual city of Ujjain, aur mera jo apne zameen se judaav aur mitti se lagaav hai, that has set me apart from the rest,” she says.



‘My upbringing in Ujjain has shaped me a lot as a person’
Nikita has been a student of theatre and has performed in over 60 plays and written a 250-pages play titled Krishna Leela. On arriving in Mumbai last year, she took up some modelling assignments and also landed a primary role in a feature film. An avid writer, Nikita’s love for storytelling blossomed, owing to the background she came from. She says, “My upbringing in Ujjain has shaped me a lot as a person. Ujjain is all about mythology and has a lot of stories. Ujjain mein bohot saari kahaniya hai aur mujhe bachpan se kahaniya sunne aur sunane ka shauk tha. I used to complete reading all the stories from my Hindi and English textbooks even before classes for the new grade began. I always thought that I wanted to be a storyteller aur mujhe apni story kehni aani chahiye, toh main rangmanch se jud gayi.”