Beauty is about body positivity for new Mrs. India

Chennai

Priyadarshini Rajkumar is a woman who dons many roles, literally. She’s a supporting actor who has appeared in Tamil films like Kavan, is the secretary of social service trust and a model. If she’s in the headlines today, it’s for earning yet another feather in her cap — she was recently crowned the winner of Dazzle Mrs. India Pageant held in Delhi.

Her foray into the field of modelling began when she joined a course to explore plus-size modelling and personal branding. “Wanting to be an actor and model required me to create a portfolio so this course helped me achieve it apart from boosting my self-confidence, understanding styling, body language and more,” she begins. It was around the same time she applied to audition for Mrs. India. She explains, “Different people conduct pageants of varying natures across India. What I took part in was called Dazzle and the auditions were held in Chennai for South India. Six of us were selected to go for the finals.” Through the competition, she got to meet many other women and she describes the experience as a ‘beautiful sorority of sharing and helping each other’.

After various rounds, Priyadarshini finally was crowned Mrs. India World Classic for the 35-45 age group of married women. She considers herself very lucky to have won the title and thinks it was her answer to the final question that got her the laurel. “We were asked, ‘If a woman has three births in her life — daughter, wife and mother, which is the most significant and why?’ I told them ‘mother’ because I had a beautiful childhood followed by a nice marriage. I never had to face hardship as a daughter or wife but struggled to become a mother. When my baby came along, I felt pure, unconditional love so it made me believe that to nurture is the purpose of womanhood,” she says.

In future, she wishes to utilise the platform and credibility her title has given her for social work. Finally, addressing the importance of body positivity, she shares what gave her the confidence to get into her line of work. “I totally understand when girls are bullied or body shamed because I was always bigger than any girl I used to know. I went through all of this but eventually realised that there are far fitter and better-looking women than me but my positive energy and confidence are all that matters,” she says adding, “When I was crowned, the judges told me they loved my energy. Beauty to me is not about size but the person you are. Fitness is important from a health perspective but at the end of the day, love yourself the way you are.”