Rohit Bal miffed at being misquoted

When a newspaper recently quoted Rohit as saying Puja didn't stand a chance to win, Rohit lashed back at the paper.When Miss India Puja Gupta made it to the first 10 slot at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City, designer Rohit Bal was delighted. As one of the judges responsible for selecting Puja as Miss India Universe at the Miss India 2007 pageant, the designer said Puja had lovely features and the advantage of a thorough professional grooming with the Times Group.Together, this ensured she stood a great chance of winning amongst the 77 contestants from across the world. When a newspaper recently quoted Rohit as saying Puja didn't stand a chance to win, Rohit lashed back at the paper, calling the article a scurrilous attempt to use him to attack the pageant. He not just denied saying anything derogatory about Puja or the pageant, but on the other hand, said he always has great hopes from all girls who win at the Miss India pageant each year. He said he had fully expected Puja to make it to one of the top positions, which she did and that he never said any of the negative things the paper quoted him as saying!
In an interview to KT, the designer said, "Why would I speak against my own choice? I have been judge at the Miss India contest a couple of times - once in 1998 and then again this very year - and I have witnessed how this contest has grown better and attained international standards. From a fairly regular contest earlier, today it has become huge with very professional trainers doing a splendid job with the girls who flock to them each year! The clothes the girls wear, their grooming, the way they conduct themselves, the confidence with which they answer the questions posed to them - is all so amazing! The calibre of the contest has surely gone up, as has the production, which is strikingly professional."
In fact, one has to just look at the Femina Miss India contest each year as an indicator of how far Indian women have come, says the designer who has been responsible for clothing Indian women stylishly across the span of a generation. "Today," he elaborates, "the Indian woman is a species apart. She walks tall and is confident and lives life on her own terms. Now she is by far the stronger sex and equal to women anywhere in the world! And the credit for this goes to the Miss India contest majorly as it is part of the aspirations of most young women today. Look at Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Diana Hayden, Yuktaa Mookhey, Priyanka Chopra. And more recently there have been Puja Gupta, Tanushree Dutta, Neha Dhupia , Celina Jaitley, who were all among the first 10 positions at Miss Universe pageant. And just last year Amruta Patki did us proud at the Miss Earth pageant where she was Miss Earth Air and also won award for the Best Gown."
Rohit points out that the global conquest of Miss India in the last decade maps the growing power and confidence of modern women. "Let's admit it, the evolution of Indian beauty queens has been phenomenal ," he says. "They're the modern day goddesses defining feminity, fashion and fame. If you ask teenage girls in India, they'll confess Miss Indias are women with real talent, careers and confidence. She may well be India's new Wonder Woman!"