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LIFESTYLE
AND TRENDS Making the Indian Beauty With a Miss Universe and three Miss Worlds since 1994, India appears to be the new fountainhead of beauty. A veritable beauty industry has cropped up to take care of every aspect of pulchritude. An inside look at the world of body sculptors, cosmetic dentists and etiquette teachers who construct Indian beauties. By Farah Baria with Robin Abreu Once
upon "Reita was naive, a real natural beauty who hadn't a clue to what it took to enter an international beauty pageant," recalls Roshan Kalapesi who groomed her for the contest. She left with her three best dresses for the casual rounds, borrowed a sari from a friend for the finals, bought her very first swimsuit in London -- and won.
Cut to 1999, and another nubile nymphet from Mumbai swaying down a ramp at London's Olympia Theatre. But this is no gauche ingenue. She is dressed in an ice-blue evening gown studded with Swarovski crystals designed by Indian fashion guru Hemant Trevedi. When she smiles, her lips part to reveal two rows of pearly white teeth, artificially aligned by leading cosmetic dentist Sandesh Mayekar. All through the show, one slender manicured hand is fixed on her bosom -- as advised by her personal trainer Mickey Mehta -- "to signify unison with nature", he explains. Apart from that artful little touch of melodrama, the lady is cool, sophisticated, poised, articulate. Asked how she feels under the remorseless glare of the spotlight, 21-year-old Yukta Mookhey doesn't blink. "I'm purrrfect," she purrs seductively. Ms Mookhey's role model? Audrey Hepburn, for her "inner beauty, compassion and great aura". And when at last she is ensconced on the throne, Her Ladyship accepts the coronation as if she was born to fit the part. "This is a childhood dream," she admits later, eyes misting on cue behind the water-proof mascara. Can't help that sneaking sense of d ją vu? No wonder. In the span of five years, India has turned out almost as many lean mean international beauty queens. Sushmita Sen picked up the Miss Universe tiara way back in 1994, ice maiden Aishwarya Rai nonchalantly grabbed the Miss World title in 1994, Diana Hayden made it a trio as Miss World 1997. Now there's Mookhey. Like Barbie, the torpedo-bosomed plastic icon from Mattel Toys, they've been manufactured in almost assembly-line fashion, right down to the synthetic smile and touching catechisms delivered in flawless contralto. "The result is a totally finished product which meets international standards," says model Mandira Malhotra, a Miss India contestant this year. Export quality, both the product and the packaging. India is all set to replace Venezuela as an international beauty machine. So the standard look and size are being made to order, like products exported in the right sizes and colours according to international specifications. "Venus today would blush if she were to see these beauties. They are all coming out perfect, as if from a machine," says Dr Sunil Bhoolabhai, cosmetic dentist responsible for the sparkling smiles on beauties from Namrata Shirodkar to Rai and Hayden. Never mind that the international blueprint for beauty doesn't quite match the desi one: way, way taller than the average Indian lass, with wraparound long legs. Such translations become easier if you see that beauty has an arithmetic value. Arithmetic of the variety that Dr Narendra Pandya, Mumbai's best-known cosmetic surgeon, works with -- sculpting faces which are divided into three equal portions from the forehead to the chin. Beauty is not necessarily God-given. It's being created on earth. Plain Janes now have a chance. "Today, all a girl needs is a good height and a reasonably pretty face." says fitness expert Rama Bans. "We can do the rest." You can now give them new looks, a new personality, chin, nose, hair, skin, even a new figure through liposuction ... only height is non-negotiable. Cinderella had a lone fairy godmother. Today's contestants are pruned to perfection by an entire battery of experts who assist in the transformation from basic raw material to finished product. They range from beauticians, nutritionists, hair stylists and designers to cosmetic surgeons, dentists, dance instructors and speech therapists. All highly skilled professionals on the pageant assembly line. Some modify the packaging, others focus on the content and offer value additions, like a spiritual aura, touched-up body contours or a revamped set of teeth and a Madhuri Dixit smile. Don't like your nose? Get it filed at the tip. Don't like the squarish jaw? Have it more gently rounded at the chin. Love handles on the waist, riding breeches on the thighs can all be wished away with liposuction. Former Miss India Manpreet Brar -- one of the runners-up at the Miss Universe contest -- had her angular jaw chiselled into a softer oval by cosmetic orthodontist Mayekar who has "enhanced the smiles" of several queens, including Nethra Raghuraman, Hayden and Mookhey. "All it takes is chipping away at rough edges and polishing the core," he shrugs. Bhoolabhai, who got to Hayden before she won the Miss India World title "reshaped her teeth, reduced their prominence and made them whiter in colour to give her a more beautiful smile", got rid of Shirodkar's gummy smile by trimming the gums and recontoured and whitened Rai's teeth. Hayden lightened what was diplomatically called a dusky complexion with assorted concoctions from Jamuna Pai, leading zit zapper and skin specialist. "Our girls have to deal with the inherent bias towards white skin," Pai says bluntly. The tools of the trade have also become more sophisticated. At the Miss India contest, Rai was reportedly horrified at the thought of revealing sallow thighs in the swimsuit round and promptly got herself an artificial tan under a solar lamp at Pai's clinic. Sen, who was slightly deficient in the decollete department was instantly put on the "Firm And Full" machine, a mini Bullworker especially designed to augment the bust. "Her cup size increased by nearly two inches over three months," says Bans, who personally supervised the exercise. Mercifully, the scalpel can now do what nature did not. Rhinoplasty -- the common nose job -- is a fad. The latest trend: sharp tips and pearl-drop shaped nostrils. A couple of silicone injections could also turn a pursed grimace into a voluptuous pout, and chubby cheeks can be whittled down to reveal haughty, high cheekbones. The make-overs cost anywhere from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh, but given the sweepstakes -- Rs 1 lakh for the Miss India winner and $100,000 (Rs 43 lakh) for Miss World -- it's a small investment. Around this beauty factory has mushroomed an entire industry that takes care of packaging, branding and marketing. It all starts with the portfolio which is the passport to these pageants. "We guide them and help them get better bodies and faces," says Deepa Varma, a make-up specialist who works with photographer Suvo in Delhi. Mickey Mehta works on vital statistics with an exhausting regimen of stretching, calisthenics, weight training, sprinting and the US Marine Drill, all backed by a Vedic lifestyle and vegan diet -- fresh fruits, vegetables, yoga, mantras and meditation. Wannabe Miss Worlds are also instructed in the fine art of "taking time to smell the flowers", a physio-spiritual prescription that Mehta swears by for "developing the correct positive vibrations and connecting with the corners of the universe". What does all this have to do with flaunting your derriere in an itsy-bitsy bikini? The answer: "If a girl can smile warmly, has good eye contact and a glowing aura, you have a winner." Shiamak Davar, India's best-known contemporary dance instructor and choreographer, ensures that our 6 ft beauties walk tall, both physically and emotionally. "We work on posture and balance, because a Miss Universe has to emanate confidence in every action," he explains. Sabira Merchant, Mumbai's Ms Manners, does that metaphorically with speech, diction and etiquette sessions -- how to tell a fish knife from a cheese knife, distinguish your Vs from your Ws, and sneeze politely. The bottom line, of course, is big bucks. Sponsors like Palmolive are rumoured to spend over Rs 10 crore on the Miss India pageant in return for free -- and prolific -- publicity. Miss India and the two runners-up in turn endorse all their products gratis, for a year. Meanwhile, the entire machinery goes into overdrive to ready the contestants for the global stage. Miss India Universe has barely two months to get her act together before the international event, Miss India World has much more time to groom herself for the Miss World contest. "Which is why we are more likely to win it," says Femina Editor Sathya Saran. Apart from the A-team, family support also counts. Gul Panag, who won the Miss India Universe title this year, was trained by her aunt, Komal G.B. Singh, who "used to run a modelling agency in the '80s". But, says Singh, "I never came across this sort of driving ambition to leap into the world. Not only the girl, but her parents too aspired to fame and fortune". Panag's father looked after her fitness programme while her mother nurtured her emotional attitude. Together, they worked on creative visualisation and positive thinking. "I told her that she had to be different, that the intelligence had to show through," says Singh. They would "brainstorm" together about world affairs, India's nuclear programme and culture, and focus on improving Panag's body language. Sen's mother was also a driving force in her rise to fame, Rai was actively pushed by her father. "We simply did not have this sort of grooming, support and single-minded determination," says supermodel Madhu Sapre who lost the Miss Universe title by a whisker. "All of it is very important." Small wonder then, that in the beauty sweepstakes, India now poses a threat to the other superpower Venezuela, which has won the Miss World title five times in the 49 years of the contest. In the '70s we used to export gurus, now we export glamour girls. But there is yet another view. "Today, the entire concept of a beauty pageant is changing," says Merchant. "It's not just about beautiful girls or beauty queens, it's about the search for the complete woman. After years of fumbling, India now excels at tailoring contestants for this new role." And at last, it's a perfect fit.
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a time a dusky beauty glided awkwardly down a ramp at London's Albert Hall
to stake her claim to the Miss World crown. The year was 1966; the girl,
Reita Faria, a medical student at Mumbai's JJ College, and
the first Indian woman to become Miss World. Her transformation from
scruffy student to reluctant princess was as fairytale as it could get.
Badgered by her older sister Philomena, Faria sent in a photograph to
Eve's Weekly, which held the annual Miss India contest back then -- and
got selected. She went "just for a lark", dressed in her
mother's sari and wobbly gold sandals. They disintegrated in the final
round, only to be chucked aside with instinctive chutzpah, as she
continued barefoot down the ramp, and bagged the coveted
Miss India prize: a free annual subscription to Eve's Weekly.