Girl On A Mission

Manushi Chhillar has not only brought the Miss World crown back home, but also showed us that a beauty queen can be relatable.

- Neena Haridas

What do you think the Most Beautiful Woman in the World must really be like? A fully caked-up diva? Someone who would give you that stereotyped, well-rehearsed speech about saving the world, complete with a perfect accent and diction. And of course, that Queensque wave with the right hand? Flash back to the days of Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Diana Hayden, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan… yeah, you get my point.

Now, meet Manushi Chhillar, Miss World 2017, and do yourself the favour of forgetting those stereotypes. Ms Chhillar is as chilled out (sorry, could not help that pointless play with words) as the word can get.

She is running late for our fittings before the shoot as she has been working out at the gym, so she runs up the stairs in her shorts and t-shirt. Were you not sipping coffee in her apartment, you would have almost dismissed her as just another college kid trying to make time for homework and play.

That I suppose is the beauty of Miss World today. For years, we have been seeing those unrealistic images of women who could be placed next to a Barbie Doll counter. Why there is even a line of Miss World Barbie with a crown and a plastic hand positioned in that half-cupped wave!

Clearly, the days of the Barbie Miss Worlds are over for good. And it took a medical student from India to show the world that all that talk of inner beauty and woman of substance must indeed be for real and not just clichés to utter at a public appearance — be it an economic summit or a speech on woman empowerment.