Simran Kaur Mundi: Will the Indian girl win Miss Universe 2008?

Miss India Universe 2008:
Name: Simran Kaur Mundi
Height: 5'9"
Hair Color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Stats: 34-25.5-35
Age: 22 years old
Size: 175cm
Home town: Mumbai
Hobbies: Listening to music, reading, writing poems, sketching and playing basketball.

Though she is Punjabi, Simran Kaur Mundi was born and brought up in Mumbai. She attended Scindia Boarding School. For an Indian girl, Simran is quite tall; 5 feet 10 inches. She used to play basket ball in her college years and used to be a national-level basket ball player. Before joining Pantaloon’s Femina Miss India, Simran Kaur Mundi was working as a guest relation manager with ADlabs where famous hair styling expert Dorris saw her and suggested to try her luck at Miss India contest.

Simran Kaur Mundi’s proudest personal accomplishment was winning the all rounder trophy in the last year of her school. The girl is also an animal lover. She got a scar in her thigh saving a dog. She considers it as her luck scar.

Simran Kaur Mundi is a knowledgable, focused, disciplined, determined and courageous person. She loves her family and animals. As a city girl, Simran loves to interact with people very much and she is very comfortable in front of the camera. She loves to be on stage because she can get instant feedback from people.

Like other Miss Universe winners of India, Simran does not have any dream of joining film. Movies do not excite her. She wants to become a successful model and promote Indian fashion around the world. She wants to walk the ramp for Gucci and Versace.

Simran Kaur Mundi gives all the credit to her mother and friends for being where she is today. It was her mother’s dream to see her in Miss India contest.

Winning Pantaloon’s Femina Miss India Universe 2008:
22 year old Simran Kaur Mundi won Pantaloon’s Femina Miss India Universe 2008 held on 5^th April at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. For Simran, this whole thing was unexpected. Before participating in the Pantaloon’s Femina Miss India 2008 contest, this biotechnology graduate from Versova, was working as a guest relation manager at Fame Adlabs in Mumbai.

This year, the Pantaloon’s Femina Miss India (PFMI) officials held competition in 12 regional cities. The PFMI judges included: Zeenat Aman, J J Vallaya, Tabu, Katrina Kaif, Rina Dhaka, Shiamak Davar and Arnab Goswami.

When asked about the connection between high rate of divorce in India and western influence, Simran replied that people’s mindset were changing but high divorce rate cannot be attributed to western influence. There should be a system to tackle this dilemma.

In the question answer round, when asked about what was the one change that she would like to see in India, her answer was the empowerment of Indian women. Simran believes that though Indian women have achieved a lot but there are lots of scopes.

Miss Universe 2008:
Simran Kaur Mundi has already caught attention of people in the ongoing Miss Universe 2008 contest in Vietnam. Though she did not win any of the three sub-competitons (the national costume round, the Aao Dai show and Swimwear show), she remained in the top five finalists. Simran said that she will give her best to win. Under the new system, the national costume winner of Miss Universe 2008 was chosen by online poll. In the national costume round Simran Kaur Mundi wore a laacha-choli designed by Ritu Kumar. It had embroidery skirt orange, gold and green. NDTV reports:

Simran went gaga over Ritu Kumar's creation and said this was the best she could get. The designer herself said, "I had designed a beautiful ghagra-choli for her where I have used some bright colours like orange, purple, gold and pink. India is a country of colours and I have used these colours to depict that. Simran should stand out amongst all other contestants."

Before leaving for Vietnam, Simran said that she was both excited and nervous. There was a bit of anxiety inside her but she considered it was good. She did not want to be over confident. She was glad to be a part of Miss Universe 2008. It would remain a memorable experience for her.Although she looks svelte and slim, Simran loves to eat. Times of India reports:

“It’s all a mind game. One must know whose advice to follow and how to have fun at the same time,” says Simran. Practicing relentlessly for the pageant, she starts her day early. Fitness is foremost on Simran’s mind. “I do weight training and love to eat. Fortunately, I’ve been asked by Deanne Pandey, who’s helping me with my fitness routine, to put on a little more weight,” confesses Simran with a giggle.

Future plans: Simran’s future plan is to open a beauty school as there are not too many beauty schools that would groom aspiring beauty contestants. Since, Simran has vast knowledge in this field, she thinks that she can help other girls.

Betting Odds: After the swimsuit competition, Simran Kaur Mundi has become very popular among the gamblers. Gambling 911.com reports:

India is laying big money on its 2008 Miss Universe contestant. Miss India's odds have been shortened more than any other pageant representative over the course of the last two weeks according to BetCRIS.com. Her odds had been listed between +1200 and +1400 and were now set at +1100. The payout would be $1100 for every $100 bet.

Video Clips:
In this post on Simran Kaur Mundi, Miss India Universe 2008, I bring you two video clips. The first video clip is a compilation. The length of the video clip is 10 minutes 9 seconds.

The second video clip is a short interview of Simran Kaur Mundi in the ongoing Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant. In this video clip Simran talks about her favorite subject in school and many other interesting facts. The length of the video clips is 2 minutes 7 seconds.