Glamour adds sparkle to festival of lights

Auckland celebrated the Indian festival of light, Diwali, last weekend with various communities joining the celebrations.

The Indian Weekender has been a proud sponsor of the annual festival since 2013 and has been bringing Indian Weekender Ms and Mr Diwali contest from last year.

In its second year, the contest grew bigger this time with more contestants, better prizes and bigger audience.

After auditioning nearly 100 contestants, 14 were chosen to showcase their personalities in front of thousands of people on the Diwali stage. And only two emerged winners.

The judges— theatre artist Rupal Solanki, DJ Areeb Taimoori of Bollywood Affair, and beauty expert Sandeep Raju of Body Contours— had a hard time choosing the winners as each of the contestants posed strong competition.

From their style, the ramp walk, outfits, innovation, time-management to talent—they were tested on various aspects.

This year’s titles went to Anchal Marwah for Indian Weekender Mr Diwali and Sonia Mehta for Indian Weekender Ms Diwali, while Prince Negi and Farhein Akhtar were chosen runners-up in the respective categories.

A special prize was awarded to Gagandeep Kaur for being the “Popular Public Choice”.

The winners from 2016 Ms Diwali Devika Mhetar and Mr Diwali Kariappa Maletira passed on their titles to this year’s winners.

Both the winners received a return ticket to Singapore by Singapore Airlines, a portfolio shoot by Savi B Creations, a charcoal sketch by Pravesh Arts, food vouchers by 1947 Eatery, beauty treatment vouchers by Body Contours and gift hampers by Harman Impex.

You can check out the photos and videos of the event on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/IndianWeekender

Here’s a glimpse of the evening full of glamour and culture.