'Height is actually a myth in India' Deepak Tijori

Every beautiful woman dreams big of achieving great success owing to her glowing beauty! With the emergence of gorgeous beaus like Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai, our country has opened up to the fact that our ladies can get to be successful at the beauty competitions too! Miss India, which is the pivotal step to success, though stands firm to certain criteria's, and this is where the actor cum director, Deepak Tijori scores today!

The actor has introduced a new concept in India where the girls can dream of being crowned as Miss India, wherein the height of the girl is not given that big a prominence, and all that matters here is beauty and figure. Another additional plus to this show is the age limit which stretches from 18 to 27.

Let us get to know more on the show, from the man of the hour himself, Deepak Tijori!

Q.: Our film industry also offers so many awards. What do you think is the reason behind Oscar fever?
A.: For the uninitiated, there are many other awards in the West, other than Oscars which include Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAIG etc; but we have always focused just on Oscars. At the same time, we also have so many awards enunciated in our country, that this gets meaningless when we talk only of Oscars..

Q.: You have decided to introduce "Miss India Worldwide" from the Indian stage. Have you considered the various challenges that you may face?
A.: Challenge is part of life, and this is prevalent in every field! We plan to travel from one state to another, and cover even the interiors so that we reach to all the talents all over. Moreover, height plays a big problem for many of the girls, who aim big, to make it to the beauty pageant. Well, this is my announcement to all the girls that we look at talent and nothing else! I hope that girls from all parts of India join in for this contest.

Q.: What else other than personality are you looking for, in girls who are chosen for the contest?
A.: We will be focusing mainly on the personality, height, gesture and posture and the way they converse! Also, stringent rules are not placed for height and we are not looking for only extremely beautiful girls, so girls with talent can come knocking here..

Q.: Don't you think there are many pretensions attached to these kind of shows? How have you thought of changing it?
A.: Well, we have already shown glimpses of it, as a girl of five feet and six inches, made it to the top 5 in the contest. Unfortunate that the girl did not score well in the question and answer round, otherwise she had all the chance to win the contest. She was of very average height, if you see, but was rich in talent. This is where we score; height is like a myth in our country. One point to note is that, Indian women in general, tend to be smaller in height when compared to girls from other countries. So I think this should be considered in major competitions, of this stature.

Q.: Don't you think that they would lose competition with girls from other country?
A.: I don't think that will happen, as our girls will come face to face with only the ones who are situated out of India, but are of Indian origin. Our girls will never fight it out with girls from Brazil or Morocco. In fact, these girls of Indian origin, but settled abroad also are small in stature, as they have our genes in them. To tell you more, when I judged the Miss India competition in 2005, there was an Australian girl, who was only 5-1.

Q.: What do you personally think of these beauty contests?
A.: I guess every individual will have his/her own point of view on this. As for me, I guess physical beauty is not that important, and it is the personality that one should work out on and get better. Every beautiful face will have uniqueness within, and this is what we have to look for.

Q.: Do you wish to provide a stage for Mrs. India Worldwide after providing platform for Miss India Worldwide?
A.: Yeah, of course. But before taking any such decision, I would like to analyze the success of this program.

Q.: It's a seventeen year old concept for other countries. Why do you think it took so much time to get conceptualized in India?
A.: I came to know about that just two years before. I took these two years to understand the whole process and to convince Hindustan Times.

Q.: Are you providing a platform for Indian girls to dream?
A.: Exactly, I want to encourage all the girls who have come to a conclusion that their dreams cannot bear fruit for some reason or the other. Nothing is impossible in life, it is just the dedication and faith that matters, and this is what all should understand. Also, this contest is open to all across India, whether it is big towns or interior parts of India.

Q.: Would you like to provide the winners of this contest a place in Bollywood?
A.: This will solely rest on the individual. We are not binding them with such a clause. But, we will surely give an opening for those interested, in Deepak Tijori Entertainment.

Q.: Is there any film that you have signed with them?
A.: Not yet. I am just in the process of convincing my friends in Bollywood for giving an opening to them. I think my friends will give a thought to the matter.

Q.: What happened to the film that you were supposed to do in collaboration with Sanjay Gupta's "White Feather Film"?
A.: You will know about that very soon. I would like you to wait till it's the right time.

Rajnee Gupta (SAMPURN)