The search is on!

Channel i Lux Superstar is on the hunt for its next glamour queen, and began its ninth season yesterday (February 5) with an audition round. Scores of aspiring beauty contestants lined up outside Emmanuelle's Convention Centre in Gulshan, Dhaka, waiting for their turn.

The audition round followed after a lengthy selection process in which the programme unit traveled around Bangladesh in search of potential contestants. Out of a staggering 12,000 young women, 250 have been selected for the auditions, where they have to go through a challenging process by facing three judging panels. Judges for the auditions include Aparna, Shanu, Shorna, Shahed Ali, Alif and Shafayet Mansur Rana. Today judges will select 60 women for an intensive grooming period at boot camp, before battling it out in the main competition.

This season's main judges are Arifin Shuvo, Sadia Islam Mou and Tahsan Khan.

Powered by Unilever, this year's programme theme is “Dekhiye Dao Odekha Tomae”, to emphasise on the complex requirements needed to win the show.