Whatever the snigger-snigger perception, it is not easy being a beauty pageant winner. It’s tougher still, when you have the world at your feet as Chandigarh-born Harnaaz Sandhu does after being crowned Miss Universe 2021. As the cliché goes — uneasy lies the head that wears the crown…more so, if the crown comes with baggage. Already, our beauty queen is being trolled mercilessly, with memes galore tearing into her win. Oh well, all this goes with the territory; ask our other title holders — Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta — who bagged the same title in 1994 and 2000 respectively.
I have been on several beauty pageant juries, including the first Miss World contest to be staged in India (1996). My co-jurors were Jaya Bachchan and Sunil Gavaskar. It was at this contest that Bipasha Basu debuted on the glam stage to loud applause. Even back then, there were those who abhorred the idea of a beauty pageant, and called participants the worst of names. I was roundly ticked off for agreeing to ‘judge’ something as superficial and frivolous as a beauty pageant. Feminist groups staged protests and went into overdrive criticising organisers and sponsors for perpetuating the beauty myth and ‘degrading’ women. Two decades later, the debate rages on, with Ms Sandhu being called out for talking about social issues, world peace, saving the planet and respecting humanity when all she wants is to ‘dance in Bollywood films’. This is the argument I find appalling and hopelessly out of sync with today. Whether or not Harnaaz opts to make a career in showbiz is entirely up to her. She may want to become an organic farmer, a business tycoon or a full-time homemaker. Her life, her decision, her choice.
I have been on several beauty pageant juries, including the first Miss World contest to be staged in India (1996). My co-jurors were Jaya Bachchan and Sunil Gavaskar. It was at this contest that Bipasha Basu debuted on the glam stage to loud applause. Even back then, there were those who abhorred the idea of a beauty pageant, and called participants the worst of names. I was roundly ticked off for agreeing to ‘judge’ something as superficial and frivolous as a beauty pageant. Feminist groups staged protests and went into overdrive criticising organisers and sponsors for perpetuating the beauty myth and ‘degrading’ women. Two decades later, the debate rages on, with Ms Sandhu being called out for talking about social issues, world peace, saving the planet and respecting humanity when all she wants is to ‘dance in Bollywood films’. This is the argument I find appalling and hopelessly out of sync with today. Whether or not Harnaaz opts to make a career in showbiz is entirely up to her. She may want to become an organic farmer, a business tycoon or a full-time homemaker. Her life, her decision, her choice.