MISS INDIA IN DUBAI

From left, Miss India Earth 2010 Nicole Faria, Miss India World Manasvi Mangai and Miss India International Neha Hinge at the Fashionova graduation event in Dubai on Saturday. (SUPPLIED)

Twenty-two-year-old Manasvi Mamgai is a true blend of beauty and brains.

The model, who was named Miss India World 2010 earlier this year, was in Dubai over the weekend to walk the ramp at a student fashion event.

Like other beauty pageant winners, for whom Bollywood seems a natural career choice, Mamgai hopes to make it in the movies but says she’d rather focus on the Miss World contest for the moment.

“I always wanted to become a Bollywood celebrity,” she told Emirates Business.

“I have also been offered commercial A-stream films, but movies are a long-term commitment and my current priority is Miss World, where I hope to do my country proud,” she said, speaking on the sidelines of Fashionova, an event organised by the fashion department of Manipal University to showcase collections by graduating students.

Mamgai will represent India at the Miss World 2010 contest in Vietnam later this year.

But her future plans in Bollywood are set. “I would initially like to do commercial films and then later move onto character-driven roles such as those in Madhur Bhandarkar’s films,” she said, citing the example of Fashion, the 2008 movie about the lives of people in the fashion industry.

Mamgai, now 22, achieved fame at a relatively young age, taking her first steps on the ramp at India Fashion Week in 2006, the same year that she won the Elite Model Look India contest.

Everything then fell easily into place for her, and she describes her career as a “cake walk”.

Despite that easy start, however, she has a word of caution for young women thinking about entering the modelling industry.

“Once you come into this field the path is very slippery, it is important to have your head on your shoulders and not get misled,” she said.

She has also had a few difficult moments.

“I remember once when I was walking the ramp, my shoes were very loose, suddenly my shoes went flying and fell onto the first row.

At times like these you just laugh and go ahead", she said.

Mamgai has a fabulous body that many girls dream of, so it’s a little difficult to believe she does not go the gym regularly.

“I rarely make it to the gym as I am traveling most of the time, I am like this because it is genetic, it is in my blood,” she said, smiling shyly.

Like any other girl her age who dreams of dating a celebrity, Mamgai is smitten by Johnny Depp, who has been named the Sexiest Man In The World.

“He is a good-looking person, talks well and is charismatic. Apart from the physical appearance, he is a good human being who has a variety of roles that are character-oriented, like the Riddler in Batman 3. If I go on a date with him I will have so many questions to ask him.”