Throwback Thursday: #TBT-11

Journey of Tanushree Dutta at Miss India 2004 and Miss Universe 2004

Tanushree Dutta is one of the most popular Miss India’s in the past decade or two. Her popularity is largely because of the spirit & confidence that she showed during the Miss Universe pageant. Here we go back into the tale of this gorgeous Bengali stunner.

Tanushree Dutta had tried her hand at modelling and TV show hosting prior to Miss India. In fact she was also part of the popular video song “Saiyaan Dil Main Aana Re” & hence got the opportunity to be a part of many stage-shows. These experiences helped her a lot in her pageantry career.

She tried at the Femina Miss India pageant in 2002 & 2003. Both the times she was not able to crack into the list of the contestants. However, 2004 was a lucky year for her. Tanushree Dutta, with her subtle beauty, was definitely not among the favorites initially. The highly groomed Lakshmi Pandit was considered as the star contestant. However, Tanushree Dutta with her persistence & confidence won the hearts of those who followed the contest. She won the Miss Beautiful Smile & Miss Confidence subtitles.

In the finals, Tanushree Dutta made it to the Top 5. There was a tie in the last round! Ties are always considered lucky in Miss India pageant. In 1994 there was a tie and India won Miss Universe & Miss World pageants. In 1997 there was a tie and India won the Miss World pageant. In 2000 there was a tie and India won Miss Universe, Miss World & Miss Asia-Pacific pageant. Hence the tie in 2004 was actually taken quite positively. The girls who were tied for the top spot were Tanushree & Lakshmi. The final answers of the girls decided the results – Tanushree emerged out as the winner! She would represent the country at Miss Universe pageant. The final question was something on the lines of, “Would you like to go forward or backward in time, & why?”

Miss Universe pageant was held in Ecuador in 2004. India always does well at the Miss Universe pageant, but 2003 was an unlucky year. After years of placement, India failed to crack the semi-finals. Miss India Nikita Anand received flak from people when she declared that she partied a lot after the finals, to get over what happened. Hence there was pressure on Tanushree Dutta. However, Tanushree took everything very positively. She came across as higly very prepared, polished and focused girl. She made it to the Top 10 of National costume round. Prior to finals, Tanushree Dutta was part of every Top 10 prediction list that you can find on the internet.

In the finals, Tanushree instantly won fans with her sultry expressions. Her lovely joyful expressions on making the Top 15 cut were memorable. In those days, the first round was the evening gown round. Tanushree Dutta wore a white evening gown with slits, a well-defined bun & long, dangling ear-rings. The best jewel in her look was her smile. The confidence on her face & in her eyes helped her win a lot of hearts. The scores were not revealed in that year, but many believe she would have scored above 9 in the round. Of course, she had to make the next cut to the Top 10 Finalists.

The Top 10 finalists paraded one by one in swimsuits. Now 2004 was a particularly strong year when it comes to bodies. Most girls were fabulous in bikinis. Tanushree Dutta was perhaps the shortest girl among the ten, but she gave the best of what she could. She was lean and in shape. Her body was fit & toned. Her figure was nice. The leg-extension and the “athletic touch” that she tried to give to her presentation just indicated how much preparation & focus was invested by this bright lady. However, as mentioned before, it was really a very strong year and hence Tanushree had to suffice only with a Top 10 placement.

Now from the year 2006, the format has changed. Top 15/20 girls parade in swimsuits and then Top 10 girls walk in evening gowns. This makes me think that Tanushree Dutta could have very easily cracked the Top 5 in such format. The confident & bright Tanushree could have easily scored high in the question-answer round too! Anyways, she gave her personal best and thus made many fans.

She had a rather unsuccessful career in bollywood, a sabbatical full of spiritualism and now she is back in the circuit, we may see her doing a film or TV show soon!  No matter how much she goofs up in her life, there is a strong fan-base which will always remember her with love and a smile! 🙂

Thanks to Indian-magic.com & madjacksports.com for the lovely images!