Amitabh Bachchan’s ABCL organised Miss World, leaving the superstar in financial losses while a protestor died by self immolation

MUMBAI : Hindi Film superstar Amitabh Bachchan is 81 years old and yet he can give any new-comer a run for his money when it comes to his acting capabilities and charm. There’s no stopping this veteran who has a number of interesting films in his kitty this year. He was known as the angry young man of the 70s. His talent and star power is still unmatched even today.

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As the Miss World is returning to India after nearly 28 years, there was a time when Big B’s ABCL organised the Miss World in 1996. The event was hosted in Bengaluru and the organisers did not have a great time doing it. 

In an old interview, Amitabh Bachchan revealed, “were nervous about saying yes because we had only four months to organise the pageant.” Shockingly a nationwide protest broke out and as per New York Times, a person who was protesting even died by self-immolation. The protests were against the pageant as they saw it as an attack on Indian values. 

The protests went so out of hand that the Bikini round was moved to Seychelles. The report read, “The numerous protests included self-immolation. Strange bedfellows found themselves entwined in their mutual outrage – feminists who found such contests degrading to women and Hindu nationalists who saw the show as an invasion of Western degeneracy. The swimsuit competition had to be moved to the nearby and more hospitable Seychelles Islands.”

Amitabh mentioned that the Miss India pageant has been organised in India since 1947. Big B said in an old interview, “When you talk about response, you are referring to a small but vocal group that is opposed to the contest. We ran a survey before we said yes to consider the reaction from the public at large. That survey said that people approved of the pageant. I still believe that by and large, there is widespread public support for Miss World. Or at the very least, the public is not opposed to the pageant. So in that sense, the survey was right. What we didn’t consider was that there would be a very vocal minority that would oppose Miss World at all costs.”

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Credit-Indianexpress