Original subtitles

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RUHI: We as a country should move forward.

A lot of people think that if, you know,

if you allow women to work and get modern

and get educated you lose your culture and your heritage

and your deep-rooted values...

but I don't agree.

If we want India to develop

I think all of us have to change.

We have to change our mentality.

As much as I love and I respect my culture,

I think of myself as a very modern young girl

and I want freedom.

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MERCHANT: This is no place for little girls anymore.

This is a place for women.

Everything you say, you say with it sureness

with your enunciation, with your smile,

with your confidence.

It's that that makes a winner.

ROBINSON: Always be groomed well.

If you're in this profession

you need to take care of yourself.

I mean, you know, you need to invest in yourself.

Make me believe that you are gonna be models.

Make me believe that she is going to be a Bollywood star,

you know what I mean?

MERCHANT: The connection, the humanity that comes out of you,

the judges are just seven, eight people sitting in a row

but the people that are really cheering you on

are the people behind them and the judges get influenced.

ROBINSON: If I was a woman and I had a gown, trust me,

my boobs would be out and my butt would be out

and I would be looking in the mirror,

okay I'm in the final ten.

How am I gonna look?

How am I gonna present myself?

Four hundred people in front of me,

the whole world watching me, eyes on me.

MERCHANT: In India, you've got what,

over a billion plus population.

I think it's a billion and a half now.

To be a Miss India and be considered

the most beautiful girl in India,

imagine the exposure.

Who's gonna give them that exposure?

They get ads, they get films, they get contracts.

Just to have the television exposure.

Who's gonna give them five whole minutes?

You know what it costs

for an ad for five minutes, for five seconds?

It's just not Indian exposure.

They get Singapore contracts.

They get Hong Kong.

They get Middle East.

They get England.

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ANKITA: I'm going to make the full use of this platform

because I think that being a Miss India

would give me the identity that I deserve to have,

my own identity because, you know,

in our society in India it's dominated by men.

For a woman to have her stand in this society

it's very important for her to go out, earn for herself.

You earn for yourself,

you live off for yourself, you gain respect there.

You absolutely, you gain respect.

DIRECTOR: Put your hands in your lap like that.

Let's take it from the top. Rolling.

And action.

RUHI: Hi, I'm Ruhi Singh.

I belong to the very famous pink city of Jaipur.

RUHI: I have done a lot of beauty pageants but I never won.

I've never gone first in my life ever

but I want to make my parents really proud.

They created me. I'm their creation.

That's what I believe and if they've created me

it's my duty to work as hard as possible

and, you know, just to make them feel

that yes the creation is good, you know?

You've just not added some waste into the environment.

It's something worthwhile.

RUHI: I love everything about my life

and I'm here to make my parents really proud of myself

so guys, watch out for me.

DIRECTOR: We'll take it from the top, all in Hindi.

[*]

RUHI'S MOTHER: Jaipur is no place for Ruhi.

I'm very happy actually she's out.

It is not like outside world, European countries

where a girl is very certain of her future.

Whatever she wants to do she will do it.

It's not like that here.

I'm not talking about me

but general women of Rajasthan.

Most of them are poor.

They are not allowed outside the house.

A woman, a girl should have some, some freedom but no.

Whatever she want to do, do.

I always supported her, me and my husband.

RUHI: Hi, I'm Ruhi Singh.

I'm a pink city Jaipur.

[speaks Hindi]

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[chanting]

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[speaking Hindi]

[speaking Hindi]

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[shouting]

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WOMAN: Up, up, up!

Go!

And now try to not be like elephants so loud, be softer.

Up, up, up.

Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

Five, four, three, two.

[*]

WOMAN: Done.

Stop step.

So when you enter you stop and you turn your torso.

Stop, step.

More back leg ninety degree.

Turn.

Walk centre, back straight,

not your hand, back straight, elbow front, chin parallel.

It hurts?

It looks fab.

Turn. Second. Turn.

MERCHANT: We had beauty all along

but then we've learned how to control that beauty,

how to make that beauty even finer.

You added a speech and diction expert.

Then you added someone who could actually teach you

how to walk the ramp and to better your skin

and then to straighten your teeth

and now it's become like a little, a little factory.

I mean it's a manufacturing unit where you go inside

and you're polished like a diamond

to the best that you can be polished to.

That's it.

A modern Indian woman.

ANNOUNCER: The Pantaloon Femina Miss India World 2009 is...

...contestant number fifteen, Pooja Chopra.

[cheering]

POOJA CHOPRA: The first pageant I went for

was a school pageant.

After winning that it went onto the local pageants

like Miss Poona and Miss Residency club,

Miss India Queen and Miss Navy Queen

so then it comes to national level.

See, man's needs aren't limited.

Once you get a car you want a house,

you want a bungalow, you want a mansion so it goes on.

That's the gradual progression

and I think you should be like this

because till the time you don't dream

you would not know where to aim for.

PHOTOGRAPHER: That's lovely.

Look at that.

Stunning.

POOJA CHOPRA: A lot of people feel

that uh pageants degrade women

because this is more about external beauty

but I feel it is not only about external beauty.

It gives a platform to women

and more than anything pageants like this

give her the courage, give her the confidence.

She has an identity to her voice now.

They change you.

They change everyone's perspective about you.

You change from a person, you become a personality.

I become Pooja Chopra, Miss India,

which makes a lot of difference.

[speaking Hindi]

[loud whistle]

[speaking Hindi]

[whistle blows]

JAMUNA PAI: We divide the face in three parts,

from the hairline to the middle of the brow,

from the middle of the brow to the tip of the nose,

from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin

and they have to be one third, one third and one third.

In her case, we feel this part is good,

this part is equal but this is lacking

so if I put a little chin in the sense,

if I put a little filler in this then that would be perfect.

See I'm just holding like this

and see how much more harmonious it looks.

Okay?

JAMUNA PAI: I'm not hurting. I'm not hurting.

RUHI: We have all sorts of fairness creams

available in India.

We are obsessed with fair skin.

RUHI: I remember my sister using this cream

which was uh, you know, it was like,

it was called Made in USA.

It [laughs] and she's like it really works

but this is my field of interest.

I'm not here just because I want to look good.

I'm here to win the title.

I'm here to become a Miss India

and represent my country abroad.

I'm just one step away from my dream

and now that I'm here nothing and no one can stop me.

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ROBINSON: What energy are you gonna give me?

When you're looking to camera,

are you mesmerizing me enough or not?

If you're standing, you should not stand this way.

Your energy has to be here, you know?

You push it forward.

That oomph factor has to be there.

That's precisely the idea of doing this shot.

[*]

Remember the look is sexy, it's not bitchy.

It's flirting completely.

When you look to camera you're happy to be here

and you're all saying in your own way I am the best.

Energy.

Are you happy to be here?

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ANKITA: For me, what is right is wrong for my parents.

My dad he put me in a Buddhist monastery for eight years

so I was brought up in the dark in Buddhist monastery

under their teachings and guidance

but I'm still living in the world

which is today and wrong and right it's subjective.

There are a lot of things which are right for me

which are wrong for my family

but they need to understand

I have been born in twenty-first century.

I'm not born in fifteenth century

so keeping my values and principles intact

if I don't basically keep up with the world

I'm not fit to live in here.

People are gonna swallow me down.

So I tell my dad if you're so confident

in the way you've brought me up,

that my foundation is strong,

then what do you worry about?

[drumming]

[whistling]

[speaking Hindi]

[indistinct shouts]

[shouting]

[shouting]

[shouting]

[*]

SHWETA: There are always some people

who will always oppose something or the other.

It's not like I'm becoming an America.

I'm still an Indian. My culture is still Indian.

I still celebrate Diwali

and all the festivals that there are in India.

I still speak Hindi.

I'm not becoming an American

because I'm swearing jeans and a top

or just because I had a burger one day

I become an America.

It's not true.

A lot of Americans are taking up yoga

so should I say that Americans are becoming Indians

or is there an Indianization happening in America?

No.

I think it's as simple as mingling with them, you know?

It's how culture evolves.

And it has been happening since time immemorial,

like paper was invented in China and then, you know,

the Chinese people who carry it and then there was silk

which went through the silk route.

When trade happened it was not just the goods

and the money that was exchanged.

It was also a lot of culture, you know?

It's just happening at a much faster pace now

because we have the internet, we have TV, we have all this.

That's it.

SHWETA: [unclear]

it's Hinduism but more fundamental Hinduism.

What they believe or want for women is pretty archaic,

more of a perceived idea of Hinduism

than actual Hinduism, you know?

Actual Hinduism is not so strict.

It has never been so strict.

Like look at the sari like when you wear a sari,

it's not, the sari is not all covered up.

It is quite a sensual way of dressing.

I think what these people do is

they compartmentalize the whole of India as one Indian.

India is not one.

There are so many things to India

and any girl who has come up to the level of Miss India,

like we all are part of I think the urban middle class

which thinks very liberally.

Like I don't want you to decide for me

whether I should uh, you know, show my legs or not.

Women need to be given the choice.

ANKITA: Eighty percent of families in India

don't want women to work.

Even if they want them to work they dictate them -

do this job.

They don't let her be what she wants to be

and what she wants to do

so by then what happens is from the first day

she starts giving in to other people's choices and desires

so she herself loses her identity.

She becomes somebody you could always suppress

and the change is coming.

It's wonderful to see those

like nineteen contestants out here,

the few contestants from Indore, Bhopal, Chandigarh.

I mean to say these are like those small cities

in our country.

They're like small towns

and it's wonderful to see that parents have allowed them

to come here and walk the ramp.

This shows that people are opening towards things now

but these nineteen contestants can only set an example.

They cannot bring the change.

The change will come when at least ninety percent

of the country starts thinking like that.

[chuckles]

RUHI: Wow. This is like a dream come true,

me on the front page of Bombay Times.

I mean come on.

This is the [speaks Hindi]

very big movie star and we are just here like look at this.

This is Kumar. Oh shit.

I think no one in my family

ever has been on the front page of Bombay Times

or not even inside anywhere.

[laughs] I mean, come on.

I already feel like a star.

I mean I should call my dad.

[phone rings]

Hi dad.

RUHI: It's very nice papa.

It's like all of us are there and, you know,

I'm looking so beautiful.

RUHI: Tomorrow.

I think it should be I don't know

but it should come tomorrow in Jaipur.

Everyone reads this paper.

Like even a president must be reading this, I'm sure.

RUHI: I'm feeling awesome, papa. I'm just so happy.

I love you too.

Thank you papa. Take care.

[chuckles]

Wow.

INTERVIEWER: What are the thoughts that play in your mind?

RUHI: Scared of course

but I don't want to say it.

I am.

In my heart I am.

I don't care about the experience.

A lot of girls are here for that.

They, you know, have fun and they're okay with it.

They're talking to their boyfriends and, you know,

listening to music and doing stuff

but they're enjoying the cameras and stuff like that

but for me I'm here only to win, only for the crown.

When I came here I convinced myself,

I told myself Ruhi,

don't be under confident and don't break down.

There are gonna be girls who are very good

and then, you know,

you start comparing yourself to them

and I don't have anything in particular that stands out.

See I am confident

and I know in my heart I have what it takes

but there are these stresses and, you know,

there are all these pressures

and I don't know why this is happening.

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RUHI'S MOTHER: I miss my kids a lot,

especially my daughter because she is only nineteen years old

and she has gone to Bombay, such a fast city

but when I see the achievements,

when I, when they uh ring me up

and they tell me agee, I've done this...

Then I'm so happy for them and for myself also.

But I miss her. Actually I miss her.

PRACHI: Yeah.

You have seen my father.

So I have that.

I'm becoming helpless in, in, for such situations

I'm becoming a bit more tough and tough nowadays.

I feel so.

PRACHI: A punch is not a problem.

I can bear it

but I hate, a slap is really painful for me

and he actually speaking he never hits me

for things which are not done wrong by me.

If I'm wrong he's hitting me

so I never and he has the right.

He has given me birth.

Knowing that I'm a girl child he let me live.

In a traditional family, people don't let girl child live.

They kill the child.

So this is the thing.

I get angry, I have quarrels with my dad

but this thing when it comes in my mind I feel,

I feel like crying when I do.

He let me live.

That is the best part.

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CHOPRA: For more reasons than one,

I feel that God has been so kind to me,

not because of things that I'm doing

but because of the things that my mom has gone through.

As a very close-knit family, it's my mother.

My dad unfortunately doesn't stay with us any longer,

it's been twenty-three years.

My mom walked over him

because of the simple reason

because he didn't want a second girl child

and me being the second girl child.

He wanted a boy actually.

He was being abusive, physically abusive to my mother

and a lot of pressure about not having me around.

POOJA'S MOTHER: I knew the moment it was announced

that she's a girl,

I knew things wouldn't be very good.

When they put her in the tray

and she told me that you've got a daughter

my reaction was oh god

because I knew of the consequences.

I knew I am in for a big trouble.

I felt at times very, very scared.

I was feeling as if I've done a big crime.

My in-laws, also my mother-in-law

also was saying that oh god,

not again, another daughter

and she hit her head like you know.

My husband come and says there are a lot of ways,

you know, you can get rid of at least this one, Pooja,

so I looked and he said

why are there so many orphanages.

Can't you throw?

So I didn't know whether I'm dreaming

or it's true and...

Yeah it, I said I am alive.

How can I throw my child in an orphanage

so he said okay then you can get rid of her

also by just, you know.

INTERVIEWER: What did he mean when he said?

POOJA'S MOTHER: That just kill her.

Yeah just kill her.

It won't take much of time also.

I mean um...

That was bad, that was bad, yeah.

Yeah.

I told my husband on the face,

I said you are leaving me for this girl

and I held her, I said this girl will make me proud.

Bye.

Goodbye, I said and I walked off.

ANNOUNCER: The Pantaloons Femina

Miss India World 2009 is...

...contestant number fifteen, Pooja Chopra.

[cheering]

[cheering]

POOJA CHOPRA: I did make my mom proud.

She's very, very happy

about how things have been shaping up for me.

When I won she had tears trickling down her eyes.

I went.

I had my crown on her head and I said mum,

you deserve it all because if it hadn't been her decision

I would not have been there in this world.

POOJA'S MOTHER: The time was bad.

Now I don't want to even think of it.

I'm living in the happiest of moment.

Can you believe uh the other day

I was sitting in the bus all by myself

and suddenly I started smiling.

So the lady next to me said is there anything amusing?

I said yes, there is

and without any reason I am giggling, yeah.

Just you know?

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ROBINSON: We are in Baga Beach,

undoubtedly one of my favourite beaches in Goa.

We are here today because I always have had this vision

of putting cloaks on women

so we can't see their faces and only their legs

and then decide who has the best pair of legs.

Sometimes you may get thrown,

you know, a beautiful girl, lovely hair.

She walks so good.

She's got a great body.

We don't want to see all that.

I just want to see beautiful hot legs.

[*]

WOMAN: Girls, line up.

CONTESTANT: I'm claustrophobic.

I don't know how I'm gonna do this.

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ROBINSON: Very nice. Stop.

How you feeling? Hot? Good.

Your legs are looking beautiful.

Next!

ANKITA: We want to achieve our dreams on what cost?

You know, it just hits you sometimes that,

you know, are you like so passionate

about being successful that you don't realize

it's actually at the cost of your dignity

and the cost of your morals and values.

Really? Is it worth it?

Yeah sometimes that thought comes into my mind.

ROBINSON: Well done. Next.

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[indistinct shouts]

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[indistinct shouts]

[indistinct shouts]

One, release the shoulder, two, yes, three, four.

[voice of Prachi's father]

MAN: So one...

Here, cross blocking.

Two, twist the hand with the wrist locked.

[blows whistle]

[speaking Hindi]

[singing in Hindi]

MERCHANT: Some feel it's a shameful thing.

They think it's a cheap thing.

That's why the bikini round has not been aired

in front of the whole world so to speak.

We have still the two Indias.

You know how the crowd mentality is

and they think en masse.

They might say well down with this, down with this

and then the whole pageant gets into problems.

Then for the next two years the competition

has to fight to get back on an even keel

so why get into territory

which might get you into trouble.

They don't like their names to be mentioned.

They can come out and really pelt you with stones.

You'll find something happening to your loved ones.

You'll find something happening to you.

Be careful of that.

RUHI: They're just trying to create this pressure

and horror in the society about themselves,

dragging women out of pubs,

insulting women, protesting against women,

you know, wearing short clothes.

Why do we have a government

if we have this self-acclaimed moral police?

Nowhere it is written that girls cannot do

what they want or wear what they want, nowhere.

ROBINSON: Standby mic, all good.

Shweta, girls, ready

and please tell the girls to do one and a half

and now when they come the first time

when they do enough to stand at head ramp

for at least a count of four

'cause we need to see their bodies, okay?

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ANKITA: A lot of people are comfortable

in shedding all their inhibitions,

a lot of people are not.

We walk the ramp sometimes, you know,

in the skimpiest of clothes

and I'm not comfortable wearing a bikini at all

but it's part of this contest

and the emphasis is on the body so you have to do it.

MERCHANT: There is a dichotomy,

the sense that the girls of today seem like

they're very with it, very modern

but yet they have the traditional values.

They have this feeling

like they're going sometimes on a collision course.

Should we go with the old world

or should we go with the new world?

When they ask me that question

I say go with the new world

because the only thing constant in life is what?

Change.

Otherwise, you're gonna be walked over

because this new world is a very competitive world.

[shouts]

[singing]

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ANKITA: It's the biggest opportunity

that has come my way

and I'm going to make the full use of this platform

to have a great shining bright career ahead

because from here life doesn't end, it begins.

RUHI: Today is the day.

This is where it happens.

I am going to do it.

It's gonna happen for me.

Now I don't know why am I so sure

but I know it's gonna happen so I'm not scared at all.

[cheering]

ANNOUNCER: ...Femina Miss India 2011...

[*]

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome the lovely contestants on the stage.

[cheering]

Let's have a big hand for contestant number three,

Ankita Shorey.

Contestant number eighteen, Ruhi Singh.

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[drumming]

[shouting, chanting]

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RUHI: Hi, I am Ruhi Singh.

I belong to the very famous pink city of Jaipur,

fun loving, adventurous.

I believe in making my dreams come true.

ROBINSON: Let's have a big hand,

ladies and gentlemen, Ruhi Singh.

[applause]

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MAN: Hi Rakul Preet. How ya doing?

RAKUL PREET: Very good.

MAN: Take a deep breath.

This is not the easiest question.

If you found out your son is gay,

what would be your reaction?

RAKUL PREET: Well honestly

if I found out that my son was gay I would be shocked.

I would probably slap him but then later

I feel choosing your sexuality is one's own decision

and if he wants to go ahead with that,

I have no problems.

As far as I am concerned, I prefer to be straight.

[*]

ANKITA: For all the international pageants,

there are beautiful girls from all over the world,

beautiful but they're all dumb.

They don't know how to talk.

My biggest strength is my communication skills.

I can express myself to the people very well,

which is very important.

A lot of times you think you know the answer,

you know what to say

but then you're not able to put it in worlds.

MAN: In you opinion,

which technological invention in the last sixty years

has changed our lives the most?

ANKITA: Human mind is a huge repository of inventions.

Internet has changed the way we communicate,

the way we work, play and live.

Thank you so much.

[cheering]

MAN: The question for you is

what is it that a mother can learn from their children,

say in terms of values, experiences or emotions?

CONTESTANT: Good evening everyone.

We're living in contemporary India.

The youth is young.

We have a voice, we have a choice

and we're going out there to get everything

so I think our mothers who have not had

as many opportunities as us can still dare to dream

and I think we can set an example for them.

Thank you.

MAN: I think the applause says it all.

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RUHI: This is all coming to an end.

I'm just so happy and I'm so grateful to God

and I just wish I get the crown.

I really want this.

[*]

ANNOUNCER 2: Absolutely right.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome

Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2011 contestants

back on stage with a big hand.

[*]

So here we are, the crowning moment,

the moment all these lovely ladies have been waiting for.

ANNOUNCER: Guys and girls, this is it.

All the blood, sweat, smiles and tears

become the glorious crown.

Miss India International 2011 is...

Ankita Shorey!

[cheering]

ANNOUNCER: And Miss India for 2011 is...

...Hasleen Kaur!

[cheering]

ANNOUNCER: Only one left.

The crowning moment,

the moment all these lovely ladies have been waiting for.

It is Miss India World 2011...

...Kanistha Dhankhar!

[*]

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[television in background]

RUHI'S MOTHER: I don't want to see it.

[sniffling]

[*]

ANKITA: Whatever I want, I manage to get it

because I target on it and I get it.

But then I also know

that I'm not going to stay beautiful all my life.

We all get old.

What matters is where you reach at the end.

People forget it all that, you know what,

you've sailed through, what you've gone through.

The moment you reach and you achieve what you've got

people just forget everything else

and you remember you for what you are,

not for what you were.

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RUHI: I wanted to make a mark for myself...

[chuckles]

...but it did not happen.

I was always in the back just clapping for others

and, you know, pretending to be happy for them.

Oh how happy will she be with the crown.

Oh how heavy.

Oh but inside my heart was crying

because I was like, bitch.

I'm sorry.

Just get lost. [laughs]

I mean I was supposed to be there.

RUHI'S MOTHER: When she lost naturally I felt sad.

I feel she is Miss India. [laughs]

She's Miss World. She's Miss Universe.

[*]

RUHI: I'm nineteen

and I really want to enjoy the ambitions that I have.

I want to enjoy my dreams, just like Miss India.

I just lived my dream and I came back.

In four, five years my priorities will change.

I might get married.

I will have kids.

I'll think about my kids and their future

but I won't get time to actually think about my dreams

and my aspirations and Miss India

so right now I just want to enjoy my age

and whatever I can achieve I will achieve.

[*]

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[speaking Hindi]

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