Before she became an actor, Taapsee Pannu tried her hand at modelling for a few years. During her time as a student in Delhi, she also took part in the Miss India beauty pageant in 2008. Now, a video of her walking on stage during the contest has surfaced online, and Taapsee’s ramp walk in the clip is grabbing attention. She said in the throwback video that she was participating in the beauty pagent to fulfil her mother Nirmaljeet Pannu ‘s dream. Also read: Taapsee Pannu was told she should have ‘never been in top 28’ at Miss India
Taapsee had participated in Miss India 2008 at the age of 20. She had made it to the top 28. Even though she did not win the beauty pageant, she bagged two sub-titles at the contest – Miss Fresh Face and Miss Beautiful Skin. An old video of Taapsee from Miss India 2008 was recently shared on Instagram.
Taapsee participated in Miss India for her mom
As she walked the stage in a pink dress, Taapsee’s voice-over played in the background. She said, “Hi, Sat Sri Akaal (a greeting in Punjabi). Mera naam Taapsee Pannu hai aur main bees saal ki hoon (My name is Taapsee, and I am 20). I am from the capital city, Delhi. This pageant has been a dream, more than mine, it is my mother’s. She could not make it, so I am here to fulfil her dream today.”
She further said, “It has been long since India has won an international crown, Miss World or Miss Universe. I think, I can get it back.” Taapsee walked confidently on stage, smiling and taking pauses to pose, before walking towards the DJ on stage. Veteran actor Zeenat Aman and Tabu also made an appearance in the clip that was shared on an Instagram page. They were both on the judges’ panel at Miss India 2008.
Watching the video, an Instagram user was reminding of Kangana Ranaut from the 2008 film Fashion. He wrote, “Look at Taapsee walk at Miss India and look at Kangana’s walk in Fashion.” Another said, “Thank God she didn’t win with that walk.”
Taapsee recalled humiliating Miss India experience
In a recent interview, Taapsee had opened up about her Miss India days, and said that the experience was not a pleasant one for her. She recalled how there was favoritism at the contest and during the trial phase, she was humiliated by a designer, who told her that she should not have been there. The actor said that she was one of only three girls that had been chosen from Delhi, and she had to go up against professional models.
In an interview with The Lallantop in March 2023, Taapsee had said, “I realised during the ‘grooming period’ that this wasn’t something I could do. They’d make us walk, they taught us how to smile. [Designer] Hemant Trivedi used to be the expert teacher at the time, and he humiliated me. He said, ‘If it was in my hand, you would have never been in the top 28’… There was a lot of favouritism happening there. They were making people sign contracts that strictly stipulated that contestants would have to give 30 percent of all their earnings for three years to the pageant.”
Taapsee made her acting debut in 2010 with the Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam. In 2013, she made her Hindi film debut with David Dhawan’s remake of the 1981 comedy of the same name with Chashme Baddoor. Taapsee’s upcoming projects include Dunki, where she features alongside Shah Rukh Khan. The film is directed by Rajkumar Hirani.