Hyderabad|India|November'2009: After receiving a gratifying response last year, the mother of all beauty pageants - Pantaloons Femina Miss India returns with innovative opportunities and novel concepts this season! The country’s most sought after contest is all set to celebrate its four and a half decade legacy of being the ultimate launch pad for enterprising girls to showcase and get acknowledged for their talents on the world stage.

The audition round of the Pantaloons Femina Miss India South 2010 pageant kick-started in Hyderabad with an over-whelming response. The Pantaloons Femina Miss India South Selection squad congregated at the Pantaloon store to screen and shortlist girls who exhibited a heady combination of good looks and intelligence.

Lots of enthusiastic applicants were seen thronging the venue on Day 1 of Auditions, which was then narrowed down to a select few by the selection squad for Day 2, on the basis of pre-requisite criterion such as age, looks and height. Fashion Designer Prasad Bidappa thoroughly assessed and scrutinized each of the selected girls.

The shortlisted contestants will compete in the Elimination Round on December 7, 2009 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Hyderabad. Thereafter, the selected contestants from the Elimination round will undergo a Residential Training programme for 10 days at Novotel in Hyderabad, starting December 13, 2009. This will be followed by the Pantaloons Femina Miss India South Grand Finale, on December 23, 2009 at HICC.

Speaking on the occasion, Prasad Bidappa commented, “Femina Miss India is a lethal combination of beauty, brains and healthy competition. I am extremely enthusiastic to be associated with Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2010 once again this year and hope to do full justice to the cause. We will focus on girls who showcase an innate talent to create a niche for themselves, not just by their outstanding looks and a perfect body, but also by their intelligence and thought process. Femina Miss Indias’ are modern, confident, talented, independent Indian women who can take India to the world stage. The contestants undergo rigorous training comprising of diction, make-up, skin care, diet, fitness classes and so on to create diversified, intelligent individuals.”