They cried when they were rejected. And they cried when they were chosen. While some jumped in joy, hands cupping their mouths, doing a Sushmita Sen on the makeshift Swissotel ramp, some just smiled, bright and broad. Some had their I-can’t-believe-it moment. A big day for the final 10 of Dabur Gulabari Sananda Tilottama 2010, for whom the journey from catwalk in front of the mirror to the real deal took off on a rainy Thursday.

Clad in short dresses, denim hot pants and all things fashionable, the 50-odd Tilottama aspirants had made it to the sprawling banquets, Bern, early. Waiting for them were designer duo Dev and Nil and actress Aparajita Ghosh Das (in picture above). And outside were nervous parents.

In the first round, the judges decided to take a first look at all the contestants. So the girls sashayed down the red ramp. A brief introduction later, some questions were asked, suggestions offered and remarks made. “Do you think with your height you can become Miss Universe?”, “Check the meaning of a supermodel before you say that you want to become one”, “Your shoes don’t match your dress”, “Whenever you are coming for auditions, please wear something that is fitted around your hips. If you are wearing something else it looks like you are trying to camouflage”, “The shade of your foundation should be a tone darker than your real skin colour”, “Why have you applied body glitter?”, “Why are you wearing coloured lenses?”, “Is this your real eye colour?”….

The Q&A session went like — “Given a day to spend with the devil or god, who would you choose and why?”, “The question of morality always crops up when you mention modelling or acting. Is it really relevant?” and so on. The auditions also saw some contestants singing.

After a breather of a lunch break (which everyone was looking forward to) the time was for the final cut. But it was still a couple of steps away. And the tension mounted. “Can I please go inside? My sister is taking part and I want to meet her,” requested an anxious brother.

The judges decided to announce names of 15 semi-finalists first. And before they did that, a few of the promising ones who did not make it to the list were asked to come back next year. “While one of you is underage (the cut-off is 18), the rest of you need to lose a little bit of weight,” was Nil’s advice. The 15 girls had to take the stage twice as the judges wanted to be absolutely sure of who they wanted to hand over the 10 tickets to the finals to.

Next up is a month-long grooming session with Nayanika Chatterjee taking on the reins once again. August 22 has been set as the date for the final crowning.

Pageant Pick

Sonika Chauhan (21)
Priyanka Saha (23)
Dipna
Patel (22)
Arpita
Sinha (20)
Mayuri Chatterjee (20)
Poonam
Dhal (19)
Preety Kongana (19)
Rajkanya Baruah (18)
Indrakshi Bhattacharjee (20)
Riya Basu Thakur (23)

Saionee Chakraborty
Pictures by Pabitra Das