Reality TV & Beauty Pageants – From Siyaram’s Star Miss India (1998) to Miss Diva this year…

Miss South Africa 2014 had many interesting challenger events.  The videos of these events on the official channel of the pageant are so much fun and interesting.
Miss South Africa 2014 had many interesting challenger events. The videos of these events on the official channel of the pageant on youtube.com are so much fun and interesting to watch!

So Miss India Universe 2014 aka Miss Diva 2014 is going to be a reality show?!!  Of course, Miss India does have reality shows since years (sing Main Miss India, in tune of Mehnaz’s famous number), but perhaps this year they may include some competition element to it?  May be they are having challenger rounds?  Let’s hope they don’t spoil the broth with audience vote which almost always brings up someone who would have never rose up on her own merit.  Perhaps the most interesting reality show concept for beauty pageants is may be of Miss South Africa.  I hadn’t followed it rigorously this year, but I have seen some videos and from that it seemed fun! Would love to see something of that sort for Miss India Universe this year!

The show was shown every week in 1998 on Star Plus.
The show was shown every week in 1998 on Star Plus.

Yesterday the news about Miss Diva being a reality show made me remember this odd pageant named Siyaram’s Star Miss India.  I remember it came on TV about 15 years ago.  I remember there were state-level titles and there were rounds like Pajama Party round where girls would parade in night-wears and stuff.  I was too young to understand it much; neither was I interested. But I do remember the ads which filled the spaces between my favorite shows then, like Small Wonder. 🙂

While research on Star Miss India, we came across the profile of Deepti Bajwa who had won Miss Haryana in the pageant.  Well, she does look a bit like our Shruti Tulli who finished in the Top 5 of Miss Diva last year. :-)
While doing research on Star Miss India, we came across the profile of a Deepti Bajwa who had won Miss Haryana in the show. Well, she does look a bit like Shruti Tulli who finished in the Top 5 of Miss Diva last year. 🙂

When I mentioned about this to another admin, he did some research.  Apparently the show was hosted (or, was to be hosted) by Manpreet Brar who had finished second in Miss Universe 1995.  It is said that Manpreet always wanted to do something big on TV.  I think she kept her word, I mean apart from this show she a debate-show that she hosted was a huge success.  The other host was Alyy Khan, the British-Pakistani who starred in SRK’s Don 2.  Honestly, I have no idea what happened to the show.  Did it turn into a success?  Was there an eventual winner?  Or was it scrapped mid-way?  I could not find anything on the internet about this.  I read in an interview of Alyy Khan that the show had turned into disaster, but then it was vague information.

Manpreet Brar missed Miss Universe crown by whiskers and made it clear that she was not into movies.  She hosted the prestigious Filmfare Awards, Graviera Manhunt and AD Club awards.  As part of her illustrous career, she also hosted several TV shows like Star Miss India, BPL Oye and the popular Mangta Hai on Channel V.
Manpreet Brar missed Miss Universe crown by whiskers and made it clear later that she was not into movies. She hosted the prestigious Filmfare Awards, Graviera Manhunt and AD Club awards. She also hosted several TV shows like Star Miss India, BPL Oye and the popular Mangta Hai on Channel V.

Anyways, the concept of reality shows is indeed interesting.  They can have 10-15 girls, with some 10-15 episodes, showing bits of training, challenger events, etc.  But yes, I again assert – no public vote please.  I had rather have judges choose the best girl.  Or may be some public vote just to choose a girl who can represent at some minor pageant – voting will keep people more interested perhaps.

Anyways, we can imagine and discuss for fun – but the real deal will be as it will be. 🙂  Let’s hope it lives up to the expectations. 🙂 We want another fantastic winner like Manasi!

Miss Diva 2013 was extensively covered by our site.  Srishti Rana was our favorite, but we lovingly cherished Manasi's win.  We love her and this place is full of appreciative goodies about this Marathi Mulgi. :-)
Miss Diva 2013 was extensively covered by our site. Srishti Rana was our favorite, but we lovingly cherished Manasi’s win. We love her and this blog is full of appreciative goodies about this Marathi Mulgi. 🙂

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