Tanpreet Parmar beat 15 contestants from across Canada to win the Miss India-Canada crown
News East West
TORONTO: Tanpreet Parmar, the gorgeous beauty from Delta in British Columbia, was crowned Miss India-Canada at the 26th annual beauty pageant of the Indo-Canadian community here on Saturday night.
Mandy Kaur from Toronto was the first runner-up of the pageant. Mandy was also adjudged Miss Congeniality.
Tulika Gupta from Calgary was the second runner-up.
Calgary’s Sharen Sandhu, who displayed some high-voltage martial action in the preliminary rounds, was declared Miss Photogenic. She also walked away with the Best Performance Award for getting the highest marks in the talent segment of the pageant.
Ria Tharakan of Mississauga won the Air Canada People’s Choice Award which carries two economy class round-trip tickets to India.
Fifteen girls from across Canada were shortlisted for the finals. They were put three rounds of the competition and then further shortlisted to five – Mandy Kaur, Tulika Gupta, Shameela Shaheed , Tanpreet Parmar, and Sharen Sandhu.
Interestingly, the winner Tanpreet Parmar had also appeared in the beauty pageant last year.
In the final quiz section, the judges asked Parmar what the Miss Canada-India pageant taught her about herself.
Parmar said, “Taking part in the Miss India-Canada pageant was a phenomenal experience. It is the second time I am participating in it.’’
Regardless of the results in the previous pageant, she said, it taught her perseverance and “belief in my dream.’’
And her dream was realized second time around as the pageant judges selected her as Miss India-Canada 2016.
An actress, model, talk show host and mentor, Tanpreet Parmar was also crowned Miss Charity British Columbia 2014-2015 and awarded “People’s Choice” at the Miss BC Pageant.
She has been featured in films, commercials, music videos and television shows.
Tanpreet is currently a business student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, completing a degree in Human Resource Management. She said she wishes to pursue a career in television hosting in mainstream media.
Punjabi singer Dr Zeus – aka Baljit Singh Padam from Birmingham – was the guest of honour on the occasion. He enthralled the sold-out crowd at Toronto’s International Plaza Hotel in the bone-chilling winter. Dr Zeus, along with the outgoing Miss India-Canada Manasvi Noel, crowned the Miss India-Canada 2016.
Pageant organizer Sanjay Agnihotri, whose late father Kush Agnihotri started the Miss India-Canada beauty contest 26 years ago, said the pageant maintains the spirit envisioned by its founder despite all the social changes.
Agnihotri said, “ This year’s show marked 26 years of success; and we did everything to ensure a memorable evening for all who attended. The delegates, Dr. Zeus, the sponsors, and the audience truly made this our best show to date. We were honoured to have Taj Mahal on board; and Air Canada back as our returning associate partner. The show continues to evolve, and attempts to outdo itself year after year. Thank you to the community for making the Miss India-Canada event a landmark show in the South Asian community for 26 glorious years.”
Last year, Bollywood actress Preity Zinta had crowned the Miss India-Canada winner. In the past, top Bollywood celebrities such as Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Anupam Kher, Suniel Shetty and Raveena Tandon have been chief guests at the pageant.
Some famous winners of the Miss India-Canada include Kamal Sidhu (1991), Ruby Bhatia (1993), Gita Bali (1994), Rishma Malik (1996), Komila Jagtiani (1999), and Neelam Verma (2001).
