All roads led to the Goregaon Sports Club in north Mumbai on 29 January 2005. A glittering gathering of invitees watched 28 participants vie for the coveted Grasim Mr India 2005 title. High profile judges and the charming Rani Mukherjee, who was the Guest of Honour, drew as much applause as the contestants themselves. On the pleasant, balmy evening, the stars on earth dazzled their celestial counterparts by their sheer shimmering presence…The invitees craned their necks to get a closer look at eminent personalities such as Priyanka Chopra, Fardeen Khan, Rocky S, Gayatri Joshi, Nandana Sen, Mandira Bedi, Anita Raj and the Philippines Ambassador Laura Q Del Rosario who judged the contest.

Taking the audience and contestants through the evening were Manpreet Brar and Mini Mathur who kept the tempo flowing with their spirited compering. The various rounds that the contestants went through were interspersed with young, trendy and vibrant performances by Sonu Nigam, Sophiya, Zayed Khan, Arti Chabria and Natasha, lending melody and mood to the function.

The crowning moment was when Viraf Phiroz Patel, 24, was declared Grasim Mr India 2005. Viraf hails from Pune and has been with the merchant navy for the last five years. Close behind was first runner-up Kushal Tandon, 21, a student from Mumbai. Karan Hukku, 19 years, also a student and from Jaipur, was second runner-up.

The 28 finalists from all over India were trained and groomed at the Resort, Madh Island for 14 days before the event. The sub-contests were held on 22 January 2005 and the winners were:

• Talwalkar's Grasim Mr Physique: Navnit Sharma from New Delhi
• Grasim Mr Photogenic: Aseem Ali Khan from Bhopal
• Grasim Mr Smile: Dr Abhishek Narula from Pune.

Mr. Arbaaz Khan, Mr. Madhurkar Talwalkar and Ms. Suchitra Pillai judged these three sub-contests.

• Grasim Best Dressed Male: Sandeep Menon from Mumbai
• Grasim Best Talent: Anuj Sachdeva from New Delhi

Mrs. Sonia Swami, Mr. Aryan Vaid and Mrs. Ashwini Singh judged the best dressed sub-contest whereas Mrs. Mansi Joshi Roy, Mr. Aryan Vaid and Mrs. Sonia Swami judged the best talent sub-contest.

There was also another special sub-contest, Franck Provost Grasim Mr. Popular, the winner of which was voted by the contestants themselves. And the winner of this was… Sandeep Menon from Mumbai.

A very special episode was one in which the Grasim Mr India winners over the last 10 years walked the Grasim ramp once again, accompanied by top models and wearing specially designed JJ Valaya clothes. The past winners who were honored on that day were Bikram Saluja, Cary Edwards, Tarun Raghavan, Abhijit Sanyal, Vivaan Bhatena, Rajneesh Duggal, Raghu Mukherjee, Sunil Mann and our last year's runner up who won the Best Male Model of the World 2005 title, Prashant Raj Sachdev.