Miss Universe India 2024 Rhea Singha is just 19-years-old but her radiant beauty speaks in volume about her maturity and readiness. Her undeniable elegance and charming personality make her one of the frontrunners. On top of that, she represents a beauty powerhouse with a significant sash weight. When all these factors are combined, her chances of winning the crown this November in Mexico are pretty good.
India has a complicated relationship with Miss Universe. Back in the 1990s, Indian queens always make it to the semifinals. The franchise at that time was under Femina Miss India which is an organization with vast experience and a well-oiled beauty pageant machinery. It has a legendary beauty bootcamp that produced iconic beauty queens such as Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen.
Unfortunately for Rhea Singha, Femina Miss India no longer calls the shots. She was in fact crowned in a new pageant under an organization managed by Nikhil Anand. Nikhil is a skilled manager and organizer but there are some realities that needs to be confronted.
The last time the Miss Universe franchise in India was held by another organization was back in 2010. The new pageant was called I Am She and was under the helm of Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen. She confidently declared back then that India’s sash will be feared once again but the results were utter disasters. The I Am She pageant produced two successive failures and Sushmita’s only consolation was Shilpa Singh’s Top 16 finish in 2012.
Femina Miss India took back the franchise in 2013. The group created a separate pageant called Miss Diva. However, the damage in India’s reputation was so severe that it took a while for the country to recover. It resulted in the non-placement of India at Miss Universe from 2015 until 2018. Things began to turn around in 2019 and India regained its footing when Harnaaz Sandhu became victorious in 2021.
Unfortunately, the recent policy changes at Miss Universe are too much to handle for Femina Miss India group such that they decided to let go the franchise. It’s really a bad timing considering that India is mounting a comeback. To be fair though, it’s too early to judge Nikhil Anand’s new pageant. However, there is no way that he can match the experience and machinery of Femina Miss India.
There is no question that Rhea Singha is a strong candidate. She’s glamorous, she’s poised, she’s smart. She has legions of fans not only in her country but around the world. However, if we base everything solely on precedent, her chances of winning her country’s 4th Miss Universe crown doesn’t really look good.
