MAM
Gladrags’ south zone hunt ends, finale to be telecast on Star One
BANGALORE: India’s IT hub saw the curtains fall for the Gladrags Mega Model & Manhunt Contest 2007 for the South Zone today.
Gladrags Beauty Pageants (GBP), which runs this ‘unique contest’, will hold the finals in Mumbai on 7 April and telecast it on 14 April on Star One, GBP president Maureen Wadia says. The Wadia Group owned biscuit major Britannia has been the chief sponsors for the event over the last five years and Wadia is on the lookout for other sponsors.
Some of the model success stories that Gladrags has helped produce include John Abraham, Lisa Ray, Koena Mitra, Meher Jessia, Lara Dutta.
Gladrags also happens to be the inflight magazine for Maureen’s younger son Ness Wadia’s fledgling low cost airline GoAir. Ms Wadia revealed that she plans to start another magazine that will be more in line with air travelers’ expectations in around six months.
Brands
MS Dhoni joins Cars24’s Crashfree India as Goodwill Ambassador
Cricketing legend lends his voice to the fight against road fatalities in India.
MUMBAI: MS Dhoni has traded his cricket whites for a new kind of captaincy, one that aims to save lives on India’s roads. The former India captain has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Crashfree India, Cars24’s national road safety initiative. The move brings one of the country’s most trusted and disciplined public figures to a cause that desperately needs both credibility and urgency.
India continues to record the highest number of traffic fatalities globally. In 2024 alone, 1,80,000 people lost their lives on Indian roads, one every three minutes. The country has roughly 1% of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 11 per cent of global road deaths. Shockingly, 66 per cent of those killed were between 18 and 34 years old, the most productive age group, and nearly 10,000 were school students. Seven in ten fatalities were linked to overspeeding.
Dhoni, known for his calm judgment under pressure, did not mince words when speaking about the issue. “A vehicle gives you freedom, but it also gives you responsibility,” he said. “On our roads, too many people still see safety as a rule to follow only when someone is watching. That mindset has cost us far too much.”
He added: “We already know what is going wrong. We know how many lives are being lost. What we need now is not more excuses. We need more responsibility, more discipline, and more respect for life.”
For Cars24, the association goes beyond a celebrity endorsement. Founder and CEO Vikram Chopra described Dhoni’s involvement as a game-changer: “His understanding of Indian roads is grounded in lived experience. He holds us to a higher standard and his involvement challenges us to push this mission further.”
Crashfree India aims to shift the national conversation on road safety from reaction to prevention, from accepting deaths as routine to treating them as the urgent failure they are. With Dhoni on board, the initiative gains a powerful, trusted voice that transcends statistics and connects directly with millions of Indians.
In a country where dangerous driving is too often mistaken for confidence, Dhoni’s message is refreshingly clear: true strength lies in control, discipline, and respect for life. When one of India’s most respected captains decides to lead this fight, the conversation suddenly becomes much harder to ignore.
The roads just got a new captain. And this time, the goal is not to win a trophy but to save lives.
