LONG BEACH, CA: Everyone witnessed a
star-studded Red Carpet gala here onboard the prestigious ship Queen
Mary, as the who's who of South Asians in Hollywood and world beauty
queens were seen greeting fans, posing for pictures, and participating
in interviews. This was no ordinary night - it was Jinder's 17th
Annual pageant with all the glitz, class, and glamour that is always
associated with her special events. Sahara One Television and South
Asia magazine both presented the event, with co-presenters
JINmodels.com and Subhash Ghai's Whistling Woods International in
Mumbai. On the red carpet, Hrithik Roshan was revealed as the cover
guy for the highly anticipated celebrity magazine SOUTH ASIA magazine,
which had an exclusive interview with the Bollywood actor. On the red
carpet, guests were seen posing next to and kissing the blown up
version of the magazine's premiere issue. After the red carpet, the
guests were treated to delicious appetizers and a lavish dinner by
Rupee Room. The show started with a bang as Yogen Bhagat and his
talented dance troupe Bollywood Step Dance brought the house down with
his Bollywood style opening.
Jinder K. Chohan, Executive Producer & Creator of Mr./Miss/Mrs. South
Asia, Mr./Miss/Mrs. India America & Mr./Miss/Mrs. India California,
stated, "Our company has built a strong reputation around the world in
our successful 17 years in business, as we proudly represent India in
many world pageants, such as Miss Galaxy, Miss Asia, Mrs. Globe, Mrs.
Galaxy, Beauty of the World, and Mr. International." Jinder also
mentioned, "We had our star-studded red carpet again for its second
year, and the new addition this year was our celebrity magazine, SOUTH
ASIA magazine, where we have exclusive interviews with Subhash Ghai,
Hrithik Roshan, Ashok Amritraj, Supermodel Saira Mohan and many other
celebrities. For more information on our magazine, log on:
SouthAsiaMagazine.com." The Mistress of Ceremonies was the very
talented BMG Sony singer Tina "Tabla Girl" Sugandh. Also sharing the
emceeing was Sasha Hoffman-Miss India Globe 2007, Rochelle
Kumar-Beauty of India 2007, and Medha Rishi-Miss India Galaxy 2007.
The show was expertly directed by Revi Chohan. The night kept getting
better and better as the 45 contestants were revealed to the audience.
There were contestants from all over America, even from Canada, UK,
India and South Africa. After everyone participated in traditional
wear ramp walks, the talent segment started for the Miss South Asia,
Miss India America and Miss India California categories. Divneet
Wadhwa definitely wowed everyone with her Tae Kwon Do talent, complete
with breaking wooden boards held by her parents. Other talents to note
were dances by Sharanya Mukhopadhyay, Niki Desai, Archana Nair, Gunjan
Nanda, Ridhi Patel and a beautiful song sang by Nisha Garimalla
dedicated to Lord Krishna. Elegantly and stylishly dressed in tuxedos
and formal gowns, all the contestants were featured in the last round
of the competition. Before the finalists were announced, R&B singer
Ranjini from New York took center stage and sang her chartbuster "No
Matter". The top eleven finalists were: Niki Desai, Justine Dharni,
Nisha Garimalla, Shahziya Khan, Navjot Mann, Sharanya Mukhopadhyay,
Archana Nair, Gunjan Nanda, Hatel Patel, Ridhi Patel and Divneet
Wadhwa. All the finalists were asked questions.
Judges this year were: Babu Sabramaniam - Director of NBC's Hit Series
ER, Gitika Ahuja - Producer at ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA, Alpita
Patel - Hollywood Manager & Producer, Javina Gavinkar - Hollywood
Actress in Showtime's L WORD, Zachary Coffin-Producer of Bhopal Movie
w/ Aishwarya Rai (which she is also the executive producer), Kavi
Ladnier - Hollywood Actress (HEROES, LAS VEGAS, LAW & ORDER), Shazia
Deen - Model, Actress & seen in Justin Timberlake "Senorita" music
video, Thomas Tevana - Hollywood Actor in JAG, One Life To Live...Bollywood's
'Jo Bole So Nihaal', Danny Pudi - Hollywood Actor in GREEK, GILMORE
GIRLS, ER, WEST WING, Aalok Mehta - Actor "American Chai", Broadway's
Bombay Dreams, Anisha Nagaraja - Lead in Broadway's Bombay Dreams,
Ranjini - R&B Singer FROM NEW YORK, Amita Balla - Actress & Producer
of "Screw Cupid", Rizwan Manji – Actor in 'Transformers' , Quincy
Patrick - Grammy Award, Multi-Platinum Producer/Songwriter for Usher,
Alicia Keys, Babyface and Shaheen Sheikh - Pop Singer.
This year there were 12 dazzling married women fighting for the top
spots, in which three were even doctors, and for the first time the
pageant had a mother in the Mrs. Category and a daughter competing in
the Miss category. Ritu Chopra took the Mrs. South Asia 2008 title, as
Roopali Sharma of Utah won Mrs. India America 2008, and Mrs. India
California 2008 was Priya Khandelal.
Winners in the tough male competition were announced as Milan Rao, 17,
grabbing the top spot as Mr. South Asia 2008, Abhi Kommareddy, 18, won
the popular title Mr. India America 2008 and Vikram Singh, 22, took
home Jinder's oldest title Mr. India California 2008.
The main pageant was the women's competition where Sharanya
Mukhopadhyay ,20, was named with the world title Miss South Asia 2008,
Divneet Wadhwa, 15, Miss Teen South Asia 2008, Ridhi Patel, 21, won
the coveted title Miss India America 2008, Archana Nair, 17 of
Minnesota, was named Miss Teen India America 2008 and Niki Desai, 19,
won the title Miss India California 2008. The evening was about
promoting the Jagriti organization, founded by Kamlesh Chauhan, which
is dedicated to empowering South Asian women and youth. Sahara One
Television will be airing the pageant in USA, Canada, UK and 22 other
countries in Europe. For airing times or special appearances by
pageant winners, contact Jinder@SpiritOfIndia.com . The evening ended
with an energized celebration launch party for South Asia Magazine at
CLUB MUMBAI "The Hot Spot", featuring DJ Sandeep Kumar and DJ Malik.
Some of the exciting prizes this year included over $6,000 in cash
scholarships, screen tests by Bollywood Showman Subhash Ghai, TV Hosts
auditions with Sahara One Television, cruises on Masala Cruises, photo
spread in South Asia magazine, and contract with JINmodels.com. Other
sponsors were Hamilton Brewart Insurance, Westar Funding, Holly Cal
Productions and Rupee Room Cuisine of India Restaurant. |
