Gone are the days when the only role of women was cooking and child rearing. Women in India (especially in the more conservative south) are gradually playing a more visible role in society , and perhaps there’s no greater affirmation of how far we’ve come than the Hairomax Miss South India Contest, where young women from various social and cultural backgrounds come together to show off their talents, brains and of course, not inconsiderable beauty.

Four beautiful young women have made it to the finals from our very own state of Kerala: Aiswarya Muraleedharan, Geethu Christie, Priyanka Mohan and Denita Anand. The auditions were held at the Hotel Wyte Fort on October 19th, and judged by former Miss Kerala Ranjini Haridas, Miss Andhra Pradesh Valentina Mishra and Managing Director of Nupal Remedies Mr. Krishnakumar. These contestants will now go through grooming sessions emphasizing all round development: yoga, meditation and personality development for the mind, as well as photo shoots, catwalk training and beauty sessions. These sessions will be under the guidance of Mr. Arun Ratna from Fashion Runway, Mr. Sameer Khan from Elite Model management, Valen’s Model Management, and Mr. Jayagopal and Mr. Jaison Paulson from Jaison Fitness First.

The finals will be held at the Le Meridien Convention Centre in Kochi on November 16th and will have four rounds interspersed by cultural performances. Four representatives from each of the four states Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will battle it out for the crown, over designer saree, casual, black & black and linen wear rounds, sporting ensembles designed by Sajimon Parayil.

The judges include actors from all of south India such as Swetha Vijay (also a former Miss India) Aditi Chibber and Kaushal Prasad, model Simer Motiani, fashion designer Sajimon Parayil and media personalities Vijay Babu and Thoshma Biju.

The title winners will get a gold plated crown designed by Prakash Parakkat, and cash prizes of `1 lakh, `50,000 and `25,000 for the first, second and third positions respectively. Apart from these, other titles include Miss Beautiful Hair, Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Beautiful Skin, Miss Beautiful Face, Miss Beautiful Eyes, Miss Congeniality, Miss Cat Walk, Miss Perfect 10, Miss Talented and Miss Photogenic.

This beauty event is not without a heart, literally. The organizers, Pegasus Events, will use part of the proceeds from this event to cover the expenses for heart surgery for two children at Sunrise Hospital,
Go out there and do us proud, girls!
The contestants from Kerala