When Amitabh Bachchan’s ABCL organised Miss World in 1996: Protestor died by self immolation, actor suffered financial losses

But what happened next was quite unexpected. There were protests against the event all over the country. In fact, as per The New York Times, one person died by self immolation during the protest. The protesting groups saw the competition as an attack of Indian values. So much so that the swimsuit round had to be moved to Seychelles. “The numerous protests included self-immolation. Strange bedfellows found themselves entwined in their mutual outrage – feminists who found such contests degrading to women and Hindu nationalists who saw the show as an invasion of Western degeneracy. The swimsuit competition had to be moved to the nearby and more hospitable Seychelles Islands,” the report read.

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This kind of response was shocking as just two years before this, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen had won Miss World and Miss Universe respectively and were welcomed by India warmly. Bachchan too, was shocked when Miss World, in 1996, drew such response from fundamentalists. Amitabh pointed out that Miss India had been organised in India since 1947 and had never received such negativity.

“When you talk about response, you are referring to a small but vocal group that is opposed to the contest. We ran a survey before we said yes to consider the reaction from the public at large. That survey said that people approved of the pageant. I still believe that by and large, there is widespread public support for Miss World. Or at the very least, the public is not opposed to the pageant. So in that sense, the survey was right. What we didn’t consider was that there would be a very vocal minority that would oppose Miss World at all costs,” Amitabh said in that interview.

Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe in 1994.

For Bachchan, this was an opportunity to show the world that India was capable of hosting a world-class event that would be seen around the world. “If we had said no to Miss World, it would have been interpreted as India saying that we didn’t have the capability of doing it. The live telecast will bring us to the forefront of the consciousness of so many viewers in 151 countries. That alone is a major achievement,” he said.

Soon after the Miss World contest, ABCL incurred heavy losses which led Amitabh Bachchan to bankruptcy. The actor went through a financial low during these years but made a huge comeback with 2000’s Kaun Banega Crorepati.

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