Indore (Madhya Pradesh): When Miss India World 2024 Nikita Porwal returned to Madhya Pradesh — just as Femina Miss India announced MP’s state-level auditions in Indore and Bhopal — she brought a story that resonated deeply with young women from smaller cities with her on Saturday in Indore.
From performing Sita in Ujjain’s Ramleela for five years to preparing for Miss World 2026, Porwal’s rise was shaped as much by family courage as by her own ambition.
A challenge that she remembered from her journey is travelling to Delhi for her zonal round — her first time competing outside Ujjain — and recalled how intimidating that felt for someone from a smaller city.
Porwal often said her real story did not begin on a runway. It began in Ujjain, where she chose theatre at a time when performing arts were not considered a conventional path for girls.
She explained that while society questioned her choices, her parents never did.
“My parents didn’t wait for me to succeed and then accept my choices. They believed in me before anyone else did,” she said.
Her mother, Rajkumari, and father, Ashok, supported her from the start, from performing in mythological plays to her formal training in theatre and performing arts in Baroda.
Because of that early support, she moved to Mumbai for acting and modelling without the hesitation many young women from smaller cities experienced.
Empowerment is ability to choose
Porwal pointed out that young women in smaller cities often lived under the pressure of “log kya kahenge.” She believed empowerment came from making decisions, not just employment.
“Empowerment was about choice. Acting was mine,” she said. She added that acting remained important to her even after winning Miss India because it helped her grow as a person.
She also said that beauty pageants were often misunderstood. “Nobody remembered perfection; people remembered authenticity,” Porwal added.
Enchanted by Sarafa’s food lane
Even during preparation for Miss World 2026, Porwal admitted she broke her discipline whenever she visited Indore.
Sarafa’s night food lanes remained her guilty pleasure, and she said she never left the city without indulging in them.
Femina Miss India in MP
For the first time, Madhya Pradesh will hold auditions in Indore and Bhopal, replacing zonal rounds in Delhi. The change will help aspirants from Ujjain, Jabalpur, Ratlam, Khandwa, Gwalior and nearby districts.
Dr Subodh Shrivastava and Nikhla Gupta, promoters partnering for Femina Miss India in MP — said, “Registration links are available on the official websites.”
