A platform for dual causes

Delhi-based fashion choreographer and actor Jagnoor Aneja’s Indian School of Modeling and Fashion (ISMF) is coming up with Mr & Miss India 2020. With actors Priyank Sharma and Sahil Khan onboard, and with eight years of experience in directing pageant shows, Aneja looking to target two birds with one stone - challenge the pageant industry and use the platform to recognise the healthcare workers fighting the pandemic.

“I am not just looking for people who are beautiful inside and out, have good communication skills and IQ,” says Aneja, who has been conducting the screenings online. “This time, we want to use the platform to salute the healthcare workers working day in and day out to control the pandemic. We will invite and felicitate a number of these professionals with a cash prize as a token of our appreciation for helping to save the nation,” he adds.

Organising a pageant is not a piece of cake, says Aneja and the pandemic has made it more difficult. “Many pageants are all about booking a hall, putting up a banner and inviting an MTV celebrity. People don’t understand the tag Mr and Miss India, and how that person represents the country,” says Aneja. Usually, a pageant holds walk-in auditions but with the COVID restrictions that has not been possible, informs Aneja. “With no walk-in auditions, the process is definitely challenging. However, the ones interested can apply online by submitting video auditions. We will post the results on our social media pages. Initially, the event was scheduled for August 17, but now it will be in October.”

For students at his institute in Model Town, Aneja accepts their admissions after they clear an audition. “Only then, we take on the responsibility of training them. Actor Vikas Verma and TV actor Ankit Bathla come and take classes and interact with the students. I also take regular classes, and groom them to become future models,” says Aneja. Currently, all the learning has moved to online workshops and classes on Zoom.