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“ Dreams do come true, I am thrilled !”, said Navjot Samra from Sacremento, as she was crowned the first Miss Punjaban North America 2005. It was a Mother’s day event that many mother’s will not forget as they witnessed their beautiful daughters proudly display the rich heritage and culture of Punjabi set into 3 segments of the inaugural Miss Punjaban North America 2005 Pageant presented by Bikramjeet Singh of Simer International & Atwal Brothers, produced, directed and conceptualized by Rennu Dhillon of Indiva Productions.
The show commenced at around 7pm with the opening dance sequence presented by Bhangra Express . The Bhangra Beat the Bhalle Bhalle Competition consisted of 5 teams from the Bay Area competing for $1000.00 cash prize for 1st place and $250.00 for 2nd place. Ronak Punjab Di female bhangra team walked away with the 1st place and Davis Di Dynasty co-ed team in a close second. The Ohlone college Bhangra Knights was the youngest team of performers between the ages of 15-18 who came in 3rd. Other selected teams were the well know LBC Lethal Bhangra Crew and Bhangra Express.
The Miss Punjaban North America 2005 Pageant was the first of its kind with the focus of promoting and encouraging the Punjabi culture and language. 7 finalists were selected to compete in 3 categories and since this was not a typical pageant setting, there was no elimination round. The first segment, Proud to Be Punjabi, displayed the 7 young women dressed to kill in authentic Punjabi outfits presenting themselves and their qualities by speaking in Punjabi only for one minute. This was followed by a Talent segment. Navi Samra won best Proud to be Punjabi as she talked about all her unique qualities that would make her the ideal choice. Avneet Sidhu, who came in as 1st runner up won Best Talent with her presentation of amazing bhangra moves proving that today’s Punjabi woman dances as well as the men. The question and answer was a drilling session as each delegate drew a question at random and had the choice to answer in English or Punjabi. The finalists who participated in the Miss Punjaban North America 2005 pageant were Navjot Samra, Avneet Sidhu, Parvati Melton, Harleen Bhatti, Hargun Kaur (NY), Gurpreet Kaur, Jasmeet Kahlon. Hargun was awarded People’s Choice Photogenic Award. Samra won a round trip ticket to Amritsar with Singapore Airlines, compliments of Maazda Travel. Top 3 also received scholarship from John Robert Powers Modeling Agency, and gift baskets from Dr. Reena Chopra. The show was emceed by Deep Sangha, Mr. India Bay Area 2004 and Manu Multani, a pre-med student from UCSF. The show was attended by over 1500 people to include several well known Punjabi community members such as Attorney at law, Mohinder Mann, Sudarshan Ahluwali, Raja Ahluwali, Jatinder Datt, Ruby Waraich.
The Pageant and Bhangra competition was followed by Babbu Mann who entertained the crowd for 2 hours under the melodious direction of the well known emcee Asha Sharma.
The pageant and bhangra competition portion was conceptualized by Rennu Dhillon of Indiva Productions. Dhillon is known as the dame of beauty pageants and has been producing several successful events in the Bay Area since 1993. She is the founder and producer of India Bay Area Pageants and will be directing and producing Miss & Mrs. NRI Global, the largest world pageant in October 2005 here in Santa Clara Convention Center. Fore more information, please call Rennu at 510-713-2431 or email:
indivaproductions@yahoo.com
or visit www.talentportfolio.us.
Navjot Samra – Miss Punjaban North America 2005
Aveent Sidhu – 1st runner up
Parvati Melton – 2nd runner up
Hargun Kaur – People’s Choice Photogenic Award
Navjot Samra – Best Proud to be Punjabi Segment
Avneet Sidhu – Best Talent
Bhangra Beat the Bhalle Bhalle Competition
Ronak Punjab Di – 1st Place
Davis Di Gynasty – 2nd Place
Bhangra Knights – 3rd Place
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