Rohit’s wondrous feat, a proud moment for Hyderabad

Rohit Khandelwal, popular actor, television personality and model from India won the prestigious title of ‘Mr World 2016’ and with that he became the first Indian to do so. The pageant was held on July 19 at the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre in Southport, UK, which had 47 participants from around the world. Khandelwal also won a cash prize of $50,000 along with the coveted title.

Not only is Khandelwal the first Indian to win the title, but he is the first Asian as well. “Thank you for all the love... Humbled to be the first Asian, Indian to win Mr. World 2016,” said Rohit on his Facebook page. The actor-model graduated from Aurora Degree College in Chikkadpally and first worked as a SpiceJet ground staff, and then as a technical support assistant for Dell Computers.

Four years ago, when Khandelwal started his career in modelling, all he went on were his good looks and hard work. He went on to act in a couple of TV series, and audiences may remember him as Veer from ‘Yeh Hai Aashiqui’ and Sreedhar from Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. In 2015, he won ‘Mr India 2015’ contest. He also won two special awards at the pagaent, ‘Stay-On Mr Active’ and ‘Provogue Personal Care Best Actor’.

When it comes to pageant winners, we have the alluring Sushmita Sen, who won the coveted ‘Miss Universe’ crown in 1994, Diana Hayden who bagged the ‘Miss India World’ title in 1997 and of course, Dia Mirza’s ‘Miss Asia Pacific’. For a Hyderabad-based male model to bring the title to the country is a fillip for aspiring men to pursue their passion in modelling, which is still perceived as a highly female dominated industry.