A stepping stone to the red carpet

Fans of Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan put their best foot forward during a recent model hunt, keen to get a chance to meet the actors.

Titled ‘Meena Hunt’ — the name of Deepika’s character in ‘Chennai Express’ — the show was held at Garuda Mall and contestants were asked to display their resemblance to Deepika on the ramp.

 Ten contestants walked and danced on the ramp as part of the show. It was organised by Palam Silks, the official sari partner of ‘Chennai Express’.

The atrium of the mall rocked with fresh talent as the contestants entered the second round, demonstrating their individual talent by imitating Deepika’s character in ‘Chennai Express’.

The final round was a dance round, where the two finalists had to dance to different tunes.

Kavya Shah was crowned the winner and Nanditha Sandeep, the first runner up. The duo have got a chance to go to Chennai to meet Shah Rukh and Deepika.

They will also walk the red carpet with them in a fashion show to be held to mark the launch of Palam Silk’s special ‘Chennai Express’ line of saris on August 2. The grand winner will be crowned by the Bollywood superstars.

For Kavya, who bagged the first prize, winning the show and getting a chance to meet the Bollywood stars has been like a dream come true.

“I have been such a  huge fan of Shah Rukh that when I was young, the only reason I wanted to become Miss India was so that I would get a chance to meet him So, when I got to know about this event, I was really excited,” she said.

“I put in a lot of hard work to impress the judges. In each of the rounds, we had to imitate Deepika Padukone in every manner. During one of the rounds, I was given a situation where I had to speak like Deepika,” she explained. 

“It was a really good chance. Actually, I thought I’d just give it a try without having an idea of what the prize was going to be,” beamed Nanditha, a homemaker and the first runner up.

However, even with Shah Rukh and Deepika having a good fan following in the City, the turnout was poor with a mere registration of 10.

 “We did not have much of an option because there were only 10 contestants to choose from. I am assuming that the reason for the poor turnout is either because Bangalore doesn’t connect with ‘Chennai Express’ or because of the timing,” said RJ Preethi, one of the judges.