When a member of the jury thought that Priyanka Chopra was too dark to be crowned Miss India | Bollywood

The actor Priyanka Chopra was not the obvious choice for the Miss India title 18 years ago as one of the jury members felt that his complexion was "too much dark, "says a new book on the star who turned 36 today. 17-year-old Priyanka participated in the Bareilly beauty contest, Uttar Pradesh and emerged as a finalist – Femina Miss India World 2000.

Lara Dutta was crowned Femina Miss India Universe, while second-runner-up Dia Mirza has won the title Femina Miss India Asia Pacific. The three women then won the title in their respective categories – Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia-Pacific.

In Priyanka Chopra: The Incredible Story of a Bollywood World Star, Pradeep Guha, one of the mentors of the contestants for this year's contest, remembers how the "best" of the world. one of the members of the jury was uncertain about Priyanka.

"Not everyone in the jury was initially in favor of her.A person said that it was too dark," he recalls, without naming the jury member.

"I said, 'Yaar, come on, look at the South American girls, they keep on winning and some of them are pretty dark like all African girls, so I told them what "I've always been very sure of her and as I said, this woman has never been cheated twice," says Guha in the biography. Aseem Chhabra

The contestants face a series of famous judges – actors Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Waheeda Rehman, the cricket Mohammed Azharuddin, the media mogul and film producer Pritish Nandy, the painter Anjolie Ela Menon, the founder by Zee Media (and now Rajya Sabha MP) Subhash Chandra, fashion designer and queen of perfume Carolina Herrera and Marcus Swarovski, has great-grand-nephew of the founder of the Austrian crystal company.

"She's always improved on herself day after day, day after day." I knew she would give 200% if she came in, "says Guha in Rupa Publications' book. [19659002] He says that he was impressed by Priyanka from the beginning but for some reason she did not appear as "obvious choice" even though she grew up through the contest.

" I think that she needed a little more confidence. I think she was not quite sure initially if that was what she wanted to do. She came a little timidly. By the time the contest started, she seemed much more collected and certainly more confident of herself. "

Part of the reason why Priyanka felt uncertain was because she was a stranger, compared to other competitors, including Lara.Another mentor, Sathya Saran, says that She remembers Priyanka because they did not notice her at the beginning.

"I noticed her at the Talent Contest, because she was singing beautifully." I told Pradeep that she was going to win something, "says Saran.

When the results were announced, there was a tie between the best competitors Priyanka and Lara.Guha and Saran had experienced a similar situation with Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai in 1994.

"This time, they were better prepared and additional questions were asked to Priyanka and Lara. The final results have not been a surprise to anyone. The sweet and elegant Lara Dutta won the Miss India title, "says the book.

Lara and Priyanka worked together in one of their first Andaz films alongside Akshay Kumar in 2003.

Priyanka managed to sculpt an international career and is now one of the first some of the most recognizable Indian faces working in Hollywood.

The actor, in past interviews, talked about problems with his complexion even within his "Punjabi family". the story has not been modified since its original version & # 39;)