Miss India New York

Apart from Filipinos, Indians are considered ‘a majority’ in New York’s Asian-American community. That having said, it is of no surprise that there happens in the state, a local beauty contest with Indian-American ladies as contestants. What is this contest? Why, the Miss India New York pageant of course. Think of Miss India New York as a more local counterpart of the already ‘local’ Miss New York pageant. The winner of Miss India New York qualifies to enter the Miss India USA Pageant, obviously.

The Miss India New York pageant is sponsored annually by the IFC center, that establishment that most New Yorkers consider as their ultimate entertainment space. The pageant traces its beginnings in 1974 when it was, technically, still a part of this so called ‘India Festival’; it was a fashion show at that time to be exact. By the year 1979, the Indian fashion show had become so popular that a lot of people requested it to be made an actual contest. It was in the year 1980 that the Miss India USA pageant tradition was officially born.

It must be noted here that the Miss India New York Pageant is not to be taken for granted; it is not some local contest that is organized for the sake of giving Indian-American New Yorkers something to do and have fun with. The Miss India New York Pageant has come a long way since its establishment, actually. What started out as a small-scale annual event that usually receive an audience of only twenty people has now become an autonomous award giving body that produces remarkable talents.

Richa Sharma, the first ever Miss India New York (which you may actually know as actor Sanjay Dutt’s wife), was taken in by the legendary actor and producer Dev Anand as heroine in his movie “Hum Navjawaan.” And there are a lot more other past participants of the Miss India New York pageant that have achieved fame in Indian and American movies, television shows and modeling careers as well.