Can we say that pageants actually involve acting skills?
Not really. It is more general knowledge and they ask questions about anything under the Sun. The only way to prepare for the pageant is to think of the questions which had been asked in the past 50 years. Acting is something else. Even in the Miss World contest as such, there is no acting. The only acting part is perhaps the camera and the people. But then the pageant has helped me face the people. I am not nervous in front of an audience any more. I have done theatre anyway… in Boston. I was studying in school there. I acted in “Romeo and Juliet”, “Fiddler on the Roof,” and others. I used to assist back stage also. I am trained in Western classical, chorus and choir singing. I also learnt a bit of Kathak. How did you happen to enter the Miss India pageant? My family sent my photograph to the contest and I was selected. The rest just happened. Did you have training in acting? I did a three-month course with Kishore Amit Kapoor in Mumbai. I feel one must always train in the chosen
