21 contestants to vie for Miss Kerala crown

Kollam is all set to witness Kerala’s most popular beauty pageant as 21 contestants will vie for the crown of ‘Miss Kerala’ in the grand finale to be held at the Raviz Resort here on October 20. Launched in 1999 by Impressario Event Management Company, the pageant has become highly popular and many former beauty queens are now part of the entertainment industry.

“I am extremely happy about the fact that the pageant has set a stage for bringing many deserving girls to the limelight and glad to see that they are doing well in their own chosen fields,” said Harish Babu, managing director, Impressario Event Management. It is the first time that ‘Miss Kerala’ is being held in the city.

 The judges for the 13th edition of the pageant include Kannada film actor Puneeth Rajkumar, filmmaker V K Prakash, actor Rajiv Pillai, former Miss India Hasleen Kaur, designer Anupama Dayal, actress Asha Sarath, Kannada filmmaker Jacob Varghese, Rahul Easwar and V S Pradeep, managing director of Cuticura. The finalists are groomed for eight days by a panel of experts helping them to fine-tune their interview skills, confidence and communication skills. The show will be choreographed by renowned fashion choreographer Justine Bhatt.  Fashion designers Anuj Sharma and Amrita Saluja will present the costumes for the show which has three rounds - sari, party wear and gown rounds.

Apart from the main title, the contestants would vie for ‘Miss Beautiful Hair, Miss Beautiful Skin, Miss Beautiful Eyes, Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Talented, Miss Photogenic, Miss Congeniality, Miss Perfect Ten, Miss Sensuality and Miss Vivacious’ subtitles.

This year auditions were conducted in and outside India where Malayalis are based. The contest is open to all girls of Malayali origin in the age-limit of 18 and 24 years. The auditions were conducted in Kochi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Dubai. From 400 applicants 21 talented girls were short-listed for the finale.