Ankita Lenka. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 8: Jamshedpur girl Ankita Lenka was named winner in a local beauty pageant titled Apsara 2013 here last evening.

The participants were trained in stage demeanours by a grooming centre called Actor’s Studio.

The centre held sessions on beauty, hair and skincare and fitness regimes for the girls. The grooming session lasted for a week.

The event had kicked off with a dance recital on Hindi chartbusters by a local dance group. In the first round, the participants walked the ramp in ethnic outfits and introduced themselves.

The second round required the participants to showcase their talents. While some chose to show their dancing skills with one of them presenting Odissi on a peppy Hindi medley, others enacted imaginary situations. Rupali, a participant, sang Lag Jaa Gale in her sonorous voice that also got her the title of Miss Talented. Another interesting performance was by Aishwarya, who presented a lyrical recitation on crime against women.

The third and final round had eight participants who faced tough questions posed by the jury members. While some gave straight answers, others retorted intelligently. The jury consisted of personalities such as flamboyant Odissi dancer Saswat Joshi, former model Priyanka Pattnaik and fashion designer Sidharth Pattnaik.

Shruti and Swagatika won the first and second runners up titles, respectively.

“The other participants were equally talented, but I am fortunate that the jury members thought that I was the deserving one,” said Ankita, a college student.

Singer Navya crooned songs such as Disco Deewane, Party on my mind, Tu mera hero and Badtameez dil on the occasion. This was the third edition of Apsara.