Audition for Mr. and Ms. West Bengal 2024 by I-Glam

“In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.”
– Elsa Schiaparelli

The Bhawanipur Education Society College, through its Fashion collective ‘Fashionista’, hosted a pageant in collaboration with I-Glam to conduct auditions for finding the next faces of West Bengal through the ‘9th I-Glam Mr. and Ms. Bengal 2024’; on the 16th of May 2024 from 1.00 P.M to 6.00 P.M. at the Concept Hall of the college. The event’s theme was the amalgamation of Indo-Western culture and its influence in modern times. The major objective of the event was to scout for emerging fashion talents and models from the college who would be selected to compete for Mr and Ms West Bengal 2024. The hall welcomed a packed audience who settled down to witness an exhilarating show of fashion and personality filled with enthusiasm. The event anchor Srishti Jhunjhunwala welcomed the crowd with an inaugural address where she briefly outlined the event and about I-Glam, the modelling, grooming, and beauty pageant Academy. She handed over the dais to Miss Devjani Mitra, founder of I-Glam, who introduced the event and comprehensively talked about I-Glam’s Entrepreneurial journey in the last nine years which has led them to have five lakh fashion students, passing from their branch academies and making it big into the fashion world or film industry from the different states of the country such as West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, or Jharkhand. She also enumerated the various welfare initiatives they undertake yearly concerning women’s empowerment and child safety. She took the opportunity to introduce jury members Putul Dhar, Sagar Jha, Siddharth Sehal, Preeti Jagwani, Shrubabati Chowdhury, and Preet Walia. To conclude her speech, she meticulously elucidated the guidelines to all the contestants, thereby announcing the event to kick off.

The event was grouped into two categories namely: the ramp walk and the talent round. The show kickstarted with the ramp walk where the contestants, first girls and then the boys, demonstrated themselves through their fashion senses. The girls embraced the stage with absolute passion and vigour to display their fashion skills which left the audience in utmost awe of their abilities and talent. The introductory session that followed saw each of the female contestants introduce themselves and briefly speak about their hobbies, ambitions, and what brings them here. A few fumbled, and a few got nervous, while the constant encouragement in the form of cheer and support from the audience helped them unanimously regain their confidence and speak their heart out. Similarly, the male contestants showcased their talents on the stage with their aura and charisma lightening the mood of the event once again. The constant cheers and shoutouts from their friends served as boosters resulting in an exquisite show of stamina inside the hall. Maintaining the event flow, all the male contestants stood up to introduce themselves to the jury, discussing their hobbies and aspirations in life.

In the talent round, the participants showcased their respective talents; be it dancing, singing, poetry, rapping, standup comedy, or acting. The jury was completely amazed by this show of skills, mentality, and perseverance which they mentioned during their end note. Another major sight was the audience’s involvement from the sides, as they danced to the tunes, clapped in sheer bewilderment in support of their friends, and seemed to enjoy this event in their highest spirits.

Before announcing the finalists’ names, the jury members were invited to the dais to talk about the environment of the college and how enthralled they were to host the auditions where they witnessed performances beyond their expectations. They also shared their personal experiences in the fashion circuit and how one can achieve in that field with help from I-Glam. The jury’s note concluded with the felicitation of Ms. Geraldine Ray, the Fashion Choreographer and Grooming Specialist of Fashionista; and Siddharth Sehal, Actor and Model as well as I-Glam’s Mr. Fashionista and Popular Bengal 2023.

The event’s end drew closer with Ms. Mitra’s closing note where she congratulated every contestant for their participation which shunned everyone throughout. With a limitation on selecting prospective candidates for training and grooming, fourteen were selected out of the twenty-four female contestants who participated. The names of the selected were namely Rajnandini Gupta, Afshan Imam, Akansha Nicole Pradhan, Jinia Ray, Vanshika Bhatt, Kathakali Chatterjee, Kasis Shaw, Konkonika Bhattacharya, Sumi Bhagat, Megha Bhagat, Dimple Keswani, Anjali Singh, Julia Emmanuel, and Ishika Sharma. In the male category, eleven were selected out of the seventeen contestants competing for the auditions namely: Tashmeer Afeef Khan, Ranajit Chatterjee, Sourojit Chatterjee, Abhay Tiwari, Raghav Agarwal, Amarjeet Singh Walia, Sandeep Kumar Yadav, Sk. Waqar Uddin Meraj, Harshit Singh, Akshit Ray, and Deep Kandoi.

The event turned out to be an absolute success for both the collaborators as several prospective fashion icons emerged from the heart of the college, and the juries went on to exclaim how The Bhawanipur Education Society College is filled with the most exciting talents.

Reporter – Suchetan Bhadra
Photographers – Nischay Alokit Lakra, Sanika Shaw