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Birthday special – Nikhil Anand, the young polymath who revolutionized the Indian pageant industry
November 18 marks the birthday of a young polymath who was destined to serve greater purpose in life. His journey from being a neophyte to the Indian pageant industry to becoming one of the most influential personalities in the pageant world, is a pure tale of hardwork, persistence and resilience. He is a multipotentialite who not only touched greater heights in the pageant world but also single handedly shook the entire Indian pageant industry. He began his journey by participating in Mr. North India competition and later went on to build the biggest pageant empire in India. He is often regarded as the one of the most handsome pageant directors in the world and also wears the crown of being the youngest international pageant owner in the history. His knowledge and wisdom brought a new dawn in the Indian pageant industry. He is Nikhil Anand, the founder and chairman of Glamanand Group – the parent organization of 7 beauty pageants. As he celebrates his birthday today, let us have a look at his accomplishments and his journey so far.
Nikhil Anand came under the spotlight in 2015 when on the onset of his 20’s, he became the youngest pageant director in the history of Indian pageantry. He became the national director of two of the biggest international pageants in the world – Miss International and Miss Earth. However, it was not just the only reason that made him an overnight sensation in the pageant world. The other major reason that contributed to his sudden popularity was his role in reforming the Indian beauty pageant industry and ending a 60-year-long vicious monopoly that perpetrated the Indian beauty pageant sector. The year 2015 witnessed a breakaway from the monotonous and traditional ways and ushered a new era of diversified opportunities with the arrival of Nikhil. While in earlier days, there was just one pageant organization that controlled the major section of the Indian pageant sector, with Nikhil’s arrival that practice finally came to an end. Beginning from 2015, a new platform with more diversified opportunities for Indian pageant aspirants was created that later went on to become India’s second major beauty pageant and the only major beauty pageant in India with 3 international franchises under its possession. It is the present day event – Glamanand Supermodel India – India’s national preliminary to Miss International, Miss Grand International and Miss Multinational. It took India nearly 60 years to witness the creation of another major beauty pageant because of the vicious circle of monopoly that remained unchallenged until 2015 due to absence of any valiant and visionary personality.
While most of the beauty pageants were being led by more experienced and aged personalities in India, everyone was surprised to see a guy in the genesis of his 20’s, managing two of the major international pageant franchises in India. The noise of his success reached the foreign lands and he received enormous support, especially from the Philippines, where pageant consultants and analysts appreciated his efforts in highlighting the Miss International and Miss Earth beauty pageants in India, something that never happened in the past, despite these two events were amongst the biggest international pageants in the world. Gradually, this charming gentleman became one of the most discussed personalities in the Indian pageant sector in the mid 2010’s and till date he is regarded as the most popular Indian pageant director of the modern era. Along with his charming looks, it was his intellect that greatly helped in planning his course. While some supported him in his initiatives, other showed lack of confidence in him and doubted his abilities. Being a neophyte to the pageant industry, he successfully selected Indian delegates for Miss Earth 2015 and Miss International 2015 and both the delegates travelled to their respective international destinations for their respective pageants. This put an end to the air of doubt that raised questions on his abilities.
While many Indian pageant directors spent most their time boot licking and pleasing their organization’s sponsors and partners because of the money they invest in the event; ultimately compromising with, and degrading, the quality of the candidates’ and their preparations, Nikhil showed a stronger spine and always made sure that the sponsors of the event never influence the results or the preparations of the candidates of his competition. This was one of the major traits that traditional Indian pageant directors never had. After successfully running the national pageant for a couple of years, Nikhil launched 4 new pageants – Miss Teen Diva, Miss Teen India, Miss Teen International and Miss Multinational. All the 4 events were successfully staged in India and made Nikhil the only person in the world to own 5 prominent beauty pageants.
Later in 2021, he was awarded the franchise rights of yet another major international pageant – Miss Grand International, after the said international organization parted its ways with the previous Indian franchise holder. In 2021, COVID-19 crises led to franchise mismanagement and made India almost withdraw from Miss Grand International competition. However, in the eleventh hour, Nikhil acquired the franchise rights after the previous franchise holder failed to send any Indian delegate. Within less than 2 weeks, a Glamanand girl represented India at Miss Grand competition held in Thailand, continuing India’s participation streak at the pageant.
Who would have thought that a student of mechanical engineering would one day become the most popular pageant director in India? Apart from his intellect, it was remarkable fashion sense that always made him shine in the crowd. Dressed in properly styled outfits and with a supremely eloquent temperament, this young entrepreneur completely revolutionized the pageant industry, for good. A very few people in the world have attained such success and popularity at such a young age and even fewer of those were able to handle the fame properly; Nikhil Anand is one such person, who is a living proof that younger generation is much more responsible and capable of handling bigger tasks.
