KJo to judge Miss World 2007

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Posted: 19 years ago

Karan Johar

KJo to judge Miss World 2007

Subhash K Jha

On September 30, Karan Johar will be in Warsaw, Poland to serve as one of the judges at the 56th Miss World contest.

"I'm flattered to have been chosen. They asked the Times Of India group to name one filmmaker as judge for Miss World. They suggested my name," says Karan.

The fact that an Indian filmmaker has been invited to judge this prestigious global pageant is seen to be a step forward in the globalisation of popular culture vis-a-vis the Indian subcontinent.

"Not the Indian sub-continent, but certainly the globalisation of Bollywood. Suddenly we're being seen as part of a larger ground reality. At the Toronto Film Festival Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna wasn't seen as a typical Bollywood film. They identified with the human relationships and I was asked why the film was set in New York although it dealt with infidelity among Indian characters. Can you imagine what would happen if the characters played by Shah Rukh and Rani met at a Barista in Mumbai? In a sense Bollywood too has gone global. It is no longer an oddity for the West."

Karan Johar is the first Indian filmmaker to be invited to serve as a judge at the pageant.

"Although I've been quite a regular as a judge at beauty contests in India, this is my first brush with a global beauty pageant. I hope I can handle it," says Karan who heads from Poland to Germany for the German release of KANK and then to Japan for the Tokyo Film Festival where his film will be screened. "I guess Indian cinema has gone global, and so have I," he laughs.

KJo's perfect 10

"What is my idea of Miss World? The physical attributes definitely come first. I mean, we may fool ourselves into thinking that the intelligence quotient comes first. But the truth is that we look for beauty in its most basic form at any beauty pageant. Intelligence is by its very nature, a part of that beauty. Any girl who has reached this far on a global forum will have to have native intelligence. And by that I don't mean knowledge of books, politics or cinema. But I'd like my favourite contestant to have some knowledge of movies. Is it going to be any different judging Miss World from an Indian beauty pageant? Not really. I'd be looking for the same qualities in Oslo that I look for in Mumbai. Beauty is defined not by the country but by some basic definitions that don't change."