ENTERTAINMENT
Miss India 2023 winner Nandini Gupta talks about her win and her family's reaction to her triumph.
Rajasthan’s 19-year-old Nandini Gupta was crowned the winner of Miss India 2023 at a grand event in Imphal on Sunday night. Nandini, who hails from Kota, spoke to DNA about her triumph, the winning moment, and the road ahead in a freewheeling chat days after her life-altering win.
When we meet Nandini, she and the other two runners-up are in the middle of a marathon media interaction session. When asked if it has sunk in that she is now Miss India, the teenager laughs and shakes her head, before saying, “After the media conference, we are now actually starting to realise that this has happened.”
Nandini calls the moment of her crowning both ‘unreal and surreal’ and says she was glad she could share it with the two runners-up – Shreya Poonja and Strela Thounaojam Luwang. “Backstage, we all had a moment where we hugged each other because we had tears in our eyes. We could hear the crowd cheering for us. At the end of the event, it was still all unreal for us. It was a moment that was surreal and unreal at the same time because in a few moments, we went from being state winners to national winners,” recalls Nandini.
The pageant finale was held in Imphal and as the state winner from Manipur, Strela was naturally the crowd favourite. But Nandini says the crowd was gracious enough to accept the other girls too. She says, “The beautiful thing was that once Strela was announced as the winner, there was a huge roar because of course, she is from Manipur. Of course, they accepted her with all love and support. But when we were called, they actually accepted us as their daughters as well and they cheered for us just as much. So, I loved the place and the energy.”
Nandini says she was blessed she was able to share the moment with her family on stage and have an especially tender moment with her father. “I wanted to see my parents from the stage. I knew they were sitting there but after I was crowned, I was searching for them. Finally, when they got up on stage, I saw my dad cry for the first time in my life. I have never seen him cry before. I gave him a tight hug and I think it might be the first time I have done that. Because growing up, I have been used to touching his feet in a manner of respect. I finally felt as if he is proud of me,” says the new Miss India.
Nandini will now represent India at the Miss World pageant. Six Indian women have won the Miss World crown with Manushi Chhillar in 2017 being the most recent. Apart from her, Priyanka Chopra, Yukta Mookhey, Diana Hayden, Aishwarya Rai, and Reita Faria also won the coveted crown as Miss India.
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