Dancers adorned in colourful tissue filled the stage with the tinkling of their ghungrus and danced along with fusion music by none other than Habib. The Lux Anandadhara Photogenic 2004 contest had officially begun, with the audience-- packed with stars from the media world-- getting set to enjoy the show. Meanwhile, the judges had their glasses held up on the nose, with a pen in one hand, ever observant of everything going on around them.

The panel comprised a sophisticated nine-some: leading lights from the diverse fields of music, drama, literature, direction and of course modelling. The panel had the famous public speaker and television host Anisul Huq, famous poet and writer Syed Shamsul Huq, the powerful actor Alamgir, Subarna Mustafa who covered the television screen to everyone's delight, the household name of TV drama today Zahid Hassan, the ever smiling actress Afsana Mimi, artist Kanak Champa Chakma, the model and actress Aupi Karim and popular theatre personality Sara Zaker.

Organised by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd., the pageant was held at the ballroom in Pan Pacific Sonargaon, decorated in flowing colours of peach and yellow. The show was anchored by Brownya and Faisal, who kept the audience smiling and at the same time updated with comprehensive information about the pageant. They took the audience back in time to the previous week when the girls went through a dynamic session which included physical exercises, meditation and of course a lot of adda, shopping and dinner with stars like Zahid Hassan, Afsana Mimi, Aupi Karim and many more.

The 12 finalists, resplendent in flowing garments in red, gold, green, blue and all the colours of nature possible, appeared on stage. Farah Anjum Bari, the owner of the boutique house Impressions, created these designs.

The girls introduced themselves through the audiovisuals and spoke a bit about themselves. All through the introductions and the events on stage, the audience was spellbound by the mystical ambience of the music, arranged and composed by Tahsan and Jon of the band Black. A melodious performance of the song Mon shudhu mon chuyeche, by Tapan Chowdhury and Shakila Zafar, was enjoyed by all.

The 12 contestants were then snowed under a barrage of questions by the judges and surprisingly gave spontaneous replies with their ever-glittering smiles. While the judges were deciding on the six selected finalists out of the 12, a fantastic performance by Ayub Bacchu and Subir Nandi was rendered, to the delight of the music lovers in the audience. Following the theme of Shopno, both Bacchu and Nandi worked the chords of the guitar and the vocals respectively, along with the mind-blowing percussions and tabla, which created a completely new dimension of music in the country.

Once the six finalists were selected, the audience began to wonder and whisper amongst themselves as to who the winner would be. The girls then had to pick a topic and speak on it for one minute and had the chance to show-off their brains with beauty.

Before the winner was crowned, Black performed their number Eka from their second album Utosober Por and made the audience relax in the midst of the growing tension.

The winners were announced by none other than Runa Laila, who was lingering on the stage and playfully chitchatting to make the wait more tantalising. The second runner up title was given to Sumaya from Dhaka, the first runner up title to Tanzika from Rajshahi and the Lux Anandadhara Photogenic 2004 award was given to Kazi Farhina Islam from Chittagong. The sashes, titles and the winning crown were awarded to the girls by the winner of Lux Anandadhara Photogenic 2003, Shayla Shabnam.