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Making Beauty to Help the Needy by
Prakash M. Swamy A thing of beauty may be a joy forever. This not only to those who are crowned as beauty but also to countless, faceless deprived citizens lurking fear of their future.
(Crowning Miss India South Africa 1991 in Durban, South Africa) Dharmatma Saran, chairman and founder of the New York based India Festival Committee that organizes the trail blazing Miss India Worldwide, has used the title to raise funds for the poor and the needy. He made the beauty work for a good cause. Saran has also broken several conventional myths about beauty pageants. Myth Number One: Beautiful girls will look good only when they appear in skimpy clothes. No said Saran. His participants glide through the ramp wearing glittering saris and other national garb. Myth Number Two: Beauty pageants are a mere status symbol and except for the organizer and title winner, there are no real beneficiaries. Wrong, said Saran. He uses his beauty queens to raise funds for good causes. The India Festival Committee, started in 1974 in a most humble way, is celebrating its silver jubilee this year and the organization can look back with pride at its multifaceted achievements. Saran is a pioneer in more ways than one. He brought out the hidden beauties of Indian origin to the International arena. To date, Miss India Worldwide is the only ethnic beauty pageant of international repute in tandem with the dream international titles Miss World and Miss Universe.
(With Legendary Dev Anand and friends H.R. Shah and V.N. Prakash) Essentially,
Saran is a dreamer, but not a day dreamer. With a burning desire to
provide unadulterated entertainment to Indians settled here, he along
with friends started India Festival Committee 25 years
ago to conduct cultural shows on the sprawling lawns of Central Park
with ingredients such as bhangra, garba, music, and fashion shows. A not satisfied and never say die Saran decided to expand it beyond the yonder blue. In 1990, he started thinking oil the lines of Narasimha Raoglobally, he launched Miss India Worldwide pageants to identify and honor beauties of Indian origin the world over and the show graduated to become the top most international Indian pageant on the earth. From then on. Saran never looked back and success and fame came in geometric proportions. Except Femina India, no other pageants were held in India worth the name and ultimately, Saran joined hands with the Times of India group’s Femina that runs the beauty pageants in India. Saran is the only non resident Indian, till date, to be invited to judge the Femina Miss India winners. Now over 15 countries choose beautiful girls of Indian origin in their respective countries such as Guyana, Trinidad, Surinarne, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, Zambia and Nepal besides US and Canada. This year’s silver jubilee celebration will be held at the prestigious Union County Arts Center in Rahway, New Jersey on Nov. 22 in which alluring girls from 25 countries will compete for the prestigious international title. The organizers have planned to invite leading politicians, film stars, captains of industry other VIPs to the show.
(With Delegates of the Eighth Miss India WorldwidE hosted by UTV in Singapore) “This year we have been successful in getting permission to conduct pageants in Dubai and Oman, the one and only show of the kind permitted so far in these countries,” Saran said with justifiable pride. “We will never permit vulgarity and bikini wearing in our competitions... we don’t believe in the axiom shorter the dress, greater will be the chances of winning the prize. We are very conservative in that. We only showcase the best of Indian culture and not the skin. We strongly oppose exhibiting women in a cheap manner on the dais,” Saran said adding that his shows are always meant for the entire family. Support came from most unexpected quarters. Noted actress, social worker, feminist and MP Shabana Azmi, who is known to blast all beauty pageants, endorsed Saran’s show as noble as it helped funds for the deserving children. From New York State Governor George E. Pataki to Mayor Rudolph Guiliani; Amitabh Bachchan to Shatrughan Sinha; Dev Anand to Sunil Dutt; Meenakshi Sheshadri to Raakhi commended Saran’s efforts to provide quality entertainment show and world class beauty pageants. They have praised his unique method of selecting girls with beauty and the brain. The winners include several physicians, attorneys, professional accountants, doctorates and what have you.
(Receiving "Shiromani" Award from P.A. Sangma, then Speaker of Lok Sabha) Saran has become an international figure in beauty contests and he has been invited to such pageants held the world over. Recently he and his wife Neelam Saran are being invited to South Africa. Mauritius and Trinidad. “I always pursue my dreams to the logical end. I want to increase the number of countries participating in the global contest to 40 in the next five years as there are Indians everywhere,” Saran says. Saran has been successful in the combining beauty and charity. Bela Bajaria, one of his highly successful beauty queens from Los Angeles, has collected $35,000 each year for the Hand and Heart for the Handicapped for many years to help disabled children in US and India. Another successful Miss India Hong Kong collected $100,000 in a charity ball to help the helpless people. Saran said the success of the venture were not his own creations but ateam work of supporters who lend a helping hand in times of need. “I don’t know how I would have fared but for the unstinted support of Air India. Also my friends former News India editor John Perry; President of Jackson Heights Merchants Association V.N. Prakash; TV Asia Chairman FIR. Shah~ Bombay Broadcasting’s Gin Raj; and all the successive Indian Consuls General have stood with me.’ he recalls with gratitude.
(Behind every successful man...with wife Neelam) Saran is blessed with an understanding wife Neelam. She has been a source of great strength and support to him from the day one. Honestly, will any wife, without an iota of jealousy permit her husband to be in the company of charming girls? Rare. But Neelam not only understands him, but is also part of his ventures. And of course, his two daughters, Neema and Ankeeta have always been of great support and assistance. Saran is not one who rests in the laurels. After the success, he has concrete ideas to launch Miss Asia Worldwide for enchanting girls of Asian origin. The first such show of rare magnitude is to be held next year during the Asian Heritage month of May at the Trump Taj Mahal at Atlantic City. “Based on our experience and background, we felt that we could organize such a show in a much better fashion. We are overwhelmed with the response,” he said. |
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