Langley woman heads to India for beauty pageant finals

An aspiring Bollywood actress from Langley arrived in India today to represent the UK in a Miss Asia beauty pageant.

Arya Naik, 20, won the Miss Asia GB title in May and was also awarded Miss Popular, Best Catwalk, Best Talent and the People’s Choice Award.

The Bournemouth University student has delayed her placement at a PR company to fly out for the international finals taking place in India next week.

Arya said: “There was a lot going on at university and I’d never planned to do this pageant so it’s all happened at once.

“I wasn’t expecting to win and now 2 weeks later, I’m flying out.”

The finals are taking place in Pune, a city based in Maharashtra in India, and the state where Arya was born.

She moved to the UK at the age of two and grew up in Langley, where she was head girl at Langley Hall Primary Academy and won a ‘student of the year’ accolade twice at Langley Grammar School.

Growing up, Arya was a well-rounded student, involved in school plays, the choir and sports teams, and the Hindi film industry struck Arya’s interest.

“I’ve always loved Bollywood movies, the songs and picking up choreography from TV,” she said.

For her 11th birthday, Arya was enrolled in dance classes with renowned Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar and was later selected to be a part of his Special Potential Batch in his London team.

She trained for many years and performed at Diwali on Trafalgar Square in London and the Athlete’s Homecoming at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

She is also a keen actress and holds Grade 7 in Acting from Trinity College.

She said: taking lead roles in school plays

Arya enrolled in the Miss Asia GB pageant only a month before the event, when her family friend, who won Mrs India UK in 2020 recommended that she should enter.

She said: “It’s such a big platform and there’s winners coming from all over.

“I’m just going to have fun, try my best and be happy to represent my country.”

Over the years, Arya has modelled for bridal and fashion shows, including hair and makeup studio P.K Artistry founded in Slough, who did Arya’s look for Miss Asia GB.

In the talent round of the competition, Arya will perform a dance with a ‘women empowerment’ theme.

“Since doing the pageant, one topic I feel strongly feel about is tackling conventional beauty standards.

“In the acting and modelling industry, people are turned away before they audition. It’s so unfair because everyone deserves a chance. That’s what I want to fight for with this platform.”

“Beauty standards all over the world are different. Indian actors tend to be fair skinned with Eurocentric features but there is so much skin tone variation in India and I really think that needs to be showcased in the industry.”

Arya said the next stage of the pageant will have more media coverage and she hopes to build contacts that enable her to move into the Indian film industry.

Talking about her aspirations in Bollywood, she said: “My top three directors are Ayan Mukerji , Zoya Akhtar and Mohit Suri.

“Hopefully acting takes off and I’m able to do that for the rest of my life.”