Monica Gill, the newly crowned Miss India Worldwide, believes it is her destiny and force of nature that led her to pursue modelling, and took her to Mumbai to train for a career in Bollywood, Bhargavi Kulkarni writes
Monica Gill spent her high school and college years in Boston working towards a career in medicine, far away from the world of glamour and glitz which has now become an integral part of her life. The 25-year-old Gill was crowned the 2014 Miss India Worldwide at a pageant held on June 20 at the Al Raha Beach Resort in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
“An opportunity came and I decided to take the plunge,” Gill told Desi Talk about her decision to switch from academics to modeling. Currently in Mumbai to train for an acting career in Bollywood, Gill said she firmly believes that god is on her side. “A year ago I thought I’d be working in clinical affairs, had a job, was living in the U.S., had plans to pursue a higher degree, and within weeks my bags were packed and I was in India,” she said. “What I’ve learnt is that no matter how much you plan, what you do, time is like a force of nature and life is going to take you wherever it wants,” she said.
Gill, who spent the first four years of her life shuttling between her grandparent’s home in Rajasthan and her parents in Massachusetts, grew up in Millbury, Massachusetts.
She graduated from Boston University at Amherst with a major in biology and a minor in psychology and women’s studies. But after graduating and with no immediate job, she decided to try something new. Gill said she done a couple of modelling assignments while in high school, but had never given it a serious thought as a career option. With some coaxing by a family friend, Gill signed up for the regional Miss India New England pageant. In 2012 she was declared first runner up at the pageant. With a little training from event organizer Anushka Arora, Gill won the pageant in 2013. The same year she won the Miss India USA crown, setting an entirely new course for life.
Her pageant life kind of came full circle in Abu Dhabi on June 21 when she was crowned winner. Dressed in a black evening grown, which she calls a “backup” dress as the one made by a Boston-based designer could not reach her in time, Gill was crowned by outgoing Miss India Worldwide Nehal Bhogaita of UK, the first differently-abled contestant to have successfully come away with the crown in the competition’s history.
Tears were streaming down Gill’s face as her 10-year-old brother, who travelled with her parents from Boston, ran to the stage to greet her. “I knew my mom was coming for the pageant,” Gill said, adding that her father and brother attending the event was a surprise. $8,000 in prize money, gifts from sponsors and an opportunity to travel the world representing the pageant in various exotic locations.
At the pageant, her parents told The National, a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi, that they were not entirely surprised with the pageant’s results, but were still awestruck with the recent turn of events in their daughter’s life. “She had a very good job, she’s very well educated and all of a sudden she said, ‘Dad, I want to go into pageantry’,” her father Malkit Gill, an engineer turned businessman, told the paper. “Once she decided that, she was so concentrated on fashion, she won state, she won Miss India USA, it shows that if you have good determination and a flair for it, go for it and you can do it,” he added. Gill’s mother works with Bank of America and she also has a 21-year-old sister.
Gill was chosen among 40 contestants of Indian origin settled in various countries across the globe. Cynferth Turrian of Switzerland was the first runner-up, while Priya D’Silva of Bahrain runner-up. The pageant included rounds like evening gown, Indian dress, a talent contest and question-and-answer sections.
It was hosted by John Matthew and Eisha Ramrakhiani of Emirates Vision Events in association with Dharmatma Saran, founder and chairman of Miss India Worldwide.
Talking about her experiences at the pageant, Gill said it was her open mind and positive attitude that helped her get through. “An open mind is like a parachute,” she noted, “you just glide in the air.” And Gill is banking on this attitude to sail her through her days in Mumbai. She is currently enrolled for an 18-week course at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting School, where she is learning everything from acting, music, dance, and is even working on her diction, and is learning to speak Hindi and Urdu without her American accent. Gill says she is fluent in Punjabi, she spoke it at home with her parents, and is familiar with Hindi, but is learning Urdu. “It is sort of like a personality development course,” Gill says of her school.
She’s been in Mumbai for about three months and so far her experiences have been positive. She is also upbeat about her career prospects in Tinsel Town. Gill has also signed a three-year contract with Bling! Entertainment Solutions, a celebrity management company owned by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar. “The only difficult part is not seeing my parents for a long time,” she says. However, Gill says she is realistic about her Bollywood dream and does not want to waste a lifetime waiting for it. “I have given myself a cutoff time till December (of this year), and if things do not work out, I will come back and continue with my studies,” she said. But that said, Gill is quick to add that she is leaving no stone unturned to pursue her dream. “I have turned my dream into a goal and I will give it all I got to achieve it,” she adds.