Sikkim’s Tseteej Shiwakoty was honoured with the ‘Pride of India’ award at Goa’s biggest and most prestigious special awards night organized by AB Production Goa group of pageants on May 22, 2022, in Arpora, along with the honour, Shiwakoty also unveiled India’s first all-male pageants magazine.
Shiwakoty is the first Mr. India titleholder to get honoured with the prestigious award of ‘Pride of India’. He was honoured with the said award for his significant contributions to the Indian pageantry sector and for making India proud at international level.
Tseeteej Shiwakoty, a rising star
Earlier this year, in March, Tseteej Shiwakoty represented India at the world’s biggest international pageant for men – Mister Global, held in Thailand, and became the very Indian delegate to receive the “Most Inspirational Personality” award. The event that was participated by delegates from different parts of the world took place for almost two weeks prior to culminating on March 15, 2022 in Maha Sarakham City. Tseteej Shiwakoty also placed amongst the best 17 models at the said international event. It was India’s first placement at the Mister Global championship in last 5 years.
Tseteej Shiwakoty is regarded as one of the most iconic and well-accomplished Mr. India winners. He has won a series of awards at some of the world’s biggest modelling events and pageants. He is the winner of Mr. Sikkim Manhunt 2019 competition and in 2021, he created history by becoming the first Sikkimese candidate to win India’s biggest men’s pageant – Rubaru Mr. India.
His accomplishments were honoured at the colossal event in Goa held on May 22, where he also launched India’s first all-male pageants magazine – Imagecity. His image was placed on the cover page of the magazine for honouring his significant contributions to the arts and modelling sector of the state and the nation. The magazine was launched as a subsidiary of Rubaru Mr. India organization and will focus on promoting and supporting the men’s pageant industry and its constituents from all over the world.
The magazine that Shiwakoty unveiled, Imagecity , a first of its kind magazine was launched as a subsidiary of Rubaru Mr. India organization at a colossal event in Goa organized by AB Production Goa. The magazine will cover all the male pageants and its constituents from different parts of the world.
The concept of Imagecity was formulated by the international award winning pageant director and the vice president of Rubaru Mr. India organisation, Pankaj Kharbanda in January 2022. While speaking about the idea and concept behind creating such a magazine, Pankaj Kharbanda mentioned, “We have been organizing the Rubaru Mr. India championship since 2004, and completely understand the challenges faced by the organizers of men’s pageants and championships.”
“Therefore, via our magazine, we will offer our support to such organization(s) and individual(s) that are making contributions to uplift the men’s pageant industry. Indian male pageant industry came into existence in the early to mid-1990’s however, even after almost 3 decades of its formation, India did not have any dedicated platform that exclusively promoted men’s pageantry and its constituents. It was one of the major reasons, that led to the creation of Imagecity. When I first had this idea, I shared my views with the team of Rubaru Mr. India. The idea received positive response from all the members and it took us nearly 5 months to solidify the idea and turn it into a reality.,” he added.
While Pankaj Kharbanda was unanimously elected to serve as the chairman of the board, Gagan Singh was chosen to be the editor-in-chief of the magazine. While speaking about the magazine he mentioned, “It is a great initiative taken by the Rubaru Mr. India organization to support and promote the men’s pageant industry. I am grateful that I have been chosen to be the editor-in-chief of the magazine.
“I have been working with the Rubaru Mr. India organization for quite a while now and it gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of things about pageantry by researching and analysing the components associated with the pageant world. Via this magazine, we aim to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of the subjects and constituents of the men’s pageant industry” he added.