Search This Blog

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Beauty Pageants ! - fairness products and .. .. .. பேர் என்ன லல்லி?

முன்னொரு காலத்திலே இந்த சோசியல் மீடியா (முகநூல்,  ட்விட்டர், வாட்ஸ் ஆப்) கிடையாது; தொலைக்காட்சி (முக்கியமாக) இவ்வளவு சேனல்கள் கிடையாது.  [உண்மை, உண்மை தவிர வேறொன்றுமில்லை].  வீட்டில் DC ரேடியோ வைத்திருக்க லைசன்ஸ் வேண்டும் !!  வானொலியில்  விவித் பாரதியின் வர்த்தக ஒலிபரப்பு என்று ஒன்று உண்டு.   தினமும் இரவு 9 - 15 மணி முதல் 9 - 30 மணி வரை 'வண்ணச்சுடர்' என்ற நிகழ்ச்சியில் நான்கு பகுதிகள் தொடர் நாடகம் ஒலிபரப்பாகும். ஆர். எஸ். மனோகர், ஹெரான் ராமசாமி, டெல்லி கணேஷ், ஒய். ஜி. பார்த்தசாரதி போன்றவர்களின் மேடை நாடங்கள் ஒலிபரப்பாகும். ஞாயிற்றுக் கிழமைகளில் மதியம் 12 -௦௦ மணிக்கு ஹார்லிக்ஸ் வழங்கிய'சுசித்ராவின் குடும்பம்'  - சுசித்ரா, சங்கர், ராஜுரவி சுஜாதா, நல்ல நல்ல குடும்பம், இதுதான் ஹார்லிக்ஸ் குடும்பம்.  தவிர அற்புதமான குவிஸ் நிகழ்ச்சி !  .. .. அப்போது விவித் பாரதியில் வரும் ஒரு விளம்பரம்: 

"ஹேய் லல்லி, ஆளே கலர் மாறிட்டியே, எப்படி?"

"ஓ அதுவா,  பேர் அண்ட் லவ்லி உபயோகப்படுத்தறேனே !"

"அப்படியா? பேர் என்ன லல்லி?"

"fair and lovely !" 

A few months ago, Hindustan Unilever announced  that they will remove the words “fairness”, “whitening” and “lightening” from their line of products, and even remove the word Fair from their  popular Fair & Lovely brand.  It was renamed -  ‘Glow & Lovely’, days after it decided to remove nomenclature that propagated racial stereotypes.  That rattled their competitor Emami who  threatened legal action against HUL as it has already changed the name of its men’s fairness cream to ‘Emami Glow & Handsome’ !  .. brand wars in multi crore market.

Beauty Pageants ! – some hold the view that they are held to promote so called  beauty products and promote their merchandise in thirdworld countries – fairness creams now sell well in remote villages too – is one view .. .. .. another often criticized one is the Q & A of the top contestants.

The contestants have 30 seconds to answer. The countries from Colombia, France, Thailand, and Haiti requested interpreters.  Question for Miss Philippines, Maxine Medina: What is the most significant change you've seen in the world in the last 10 years?  A:   The last 10 years of being here in the world is that I saw all the people being in one event like this in Miss Universe, and it's something big to us that we are one, as one nation, we are all together.  .. ..     



On May 21, 1994, Sushmita Sen made history when she became the first Indian woman to win the Miss Universe title. After impressing the judges during the preliminary interview round, Sen made it to Top 10 and then to the Top 6. In the Top 6 Interview Round, Grammy Award-winning singer-actress, Florence LaRue asked her, “If you had the time and money to embark upon a great adventure, what would it be?” To which the actress replied, “Well I think adventure for me is what I enjoy from within me and children are little things that could bring a lot of adventure in your life. If I had the time and the money, I could do something, I wouldn’t say I would do something for the children who are downtrodden, any child is worth its while. I would do something for the children, go out with them and have a great time.”  In the final interview round, she was asked, “What for you is the essence of being a woman?” The actress's reply secured her the Miss Universe title and a place in the hearts of a generation. She answered, "Just being a woman is a gift of God that all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, who is a woman. She shows a man what caring, sharing and loving is all about. That’s the essence of being a woman."

After winning the Miss Universe title in 1994, Sushmita Sen made her Bollywood debut with 1996 film Dastak, in which she played a victim of stalking. She then went on to do the Tamil action film Ratchagan .. .. this is no story of Sushmita but a very long intro about a post on ‘Mrs Lanka’ !!  .. .. more so, on – the  winner of a Sri Lankan beauty pageant being taken off  from her during the prize ceremony, when one of her predecessors claimed - erroneously - she had broken the rules.  Wonder what that was all about ??

Hundreds of beauty pageants are conducted yearly, but the Big Four are considered the most prestigious, widely covered and broadcast by media. The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, CNN, and other major press including Reuters Xinhua News Agency,[6] and global news agencies such as Reuters -  refer to the four major pageants as "Big Four" namely: Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth. There are so many other events too ! 

Controversy erupted at the Mrs. Sri Lanka beauty pageant, when a former title holder took the crown off the winner's head and falsely claimed she was a divorcee and therefore ineligible to take part.



Pushpika De Silva was named the competition winner to applause and cheers from spectators in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Video footage from the event showed organizers placing the winners' sash around De Silva and the crown on her head.  Shortly afterward, the pageant's 2019 winner and Mrs. World 2020, Caroline Jurie, took to the stage and picked up the microphone. "I have a small request," she said. "As for the Mrs. World Inc., there's a rule that you'll have to be married, and not divorced. So, I'm taking my first step saying that the crown goes to the first runner-up." Jurie then turned to a stunned De Silva, forcefully took the crown off her head and placed it on the first runner-up, who broke into tears and thanked the judges as De Silva walked away.


The Mrs. World series is an international beauty pageant for married women, founded in 1984. The winners of each country's title advance to the Mrs. World competition to face off against each other. Under the rules of the pageant, contestants must be "married as of the date of entry."  After the incident, organizers declared De Silva the official winner of the pageant, and said in a statement that contestants who were "legally married" were allowed to compete. De Silva said in a statement posted on Facebook  that she was currently separated from her husband "for personal reasons," but they were not divorced. If she had been ineligible, she would have been removed from the competition at the start, she said. In her statement, De Silva described the incident as an insult and decried Jurie's actions, saying true queens do not snatch other women's crowns. In a second statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, De Silva added she had forgiven those involved.

Mrs. World Inc. organizers said in a news release that they are reviewing the incident. "We are deeply disturbed and sincerely regret the behavior of our current title holder, Mrs. Caroline Jurie, Mrs. World 2020, at the crowning," the statement said, adding the director of the Mrs. Sri Lanka pageant will be asking Jurie to apologize. "Let it be known, Mrs. World Inc. does not sit in moral judgment," the organizers' statement said. "If the delegate sent by Mrs. Sri Lanka-World to compete in the international competition is legally married she will be accepted."

In 2018, Veronika Didusenko was crowned Miss Ukraine before being stripped of her title days later when it emerged she was a divorced mother.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
11.4.2021

 


No comments:

Post a Comment