A Walk Back Home

SMILES. Guiles. Wiles. Our girls have got it all. Yet... Mehr Jessia, homebred supermodel, fled foreign soil. Madhu Sapre, the country's famed Miss Universe runnerup, was an also-ran on the international ramp. The first-ever Elite Look of the Year Sheetal Malhar finished her contract and catwalked right back to her country. Meghana Reddy, waiflike and flighty about her future, is unsure about her phirang tryst with fashion as well. And Vidisha Pavate is back with a heartburn over the way Ford modelling agency treated her.

Hitting foreign shores is easy, being a hit on foreign shows obviously not. And while desi damsels have been cooing crammed-up answers to conquer the world, they are a long way off from a winning romp on international ramps. Not exactly a model story. "Though the Oriental look is picking up, in Europe there is more work for blondes. You can't really blame them for their blonde, blue-eyed preferences because their clients relate to that kind of look. Indians have a different look—quite exotic. But it can be quite a disadvantage, especially in winter. I guess at some level discrimination also comes in," says Vidisha Pavate, Ford Indian Supermodel for 1995-96.

 Discrimination finally got under Pavate's beautiful skin when she discovered that payment was paltry—almost half of what her white-skinned contemporaries got. Her exotic looks won her praise and admiring glances—but few meaty assignments. And her booker, the individual supposed to promote her, was almost as mean as the money was.

"Drugs, anorexia, sleeping around," recounts Vidisha, "all this, plus they are pushy. For us Indians, it's not as important to become a Cindy Crawford as it is to maintain our self-respect. Unlike us, they will go to any lengths to beat the competition."

Lengths. Also heights. And all other measurements that go towards making a model walk super tall. Indians fall short of international standards. Fashion columnist and consultant Meher Castelino recounts the trouble she had while shortlisting models for the German Igedo Fashion Fair. "It took me six months to find Sonalika," she says. Sonalika scraped through with her minimum height requirement of 5 feet 9.5 inches. Fleur Xavier was plump, so was Noyonika Chatterjee. Models Tahia and Jessae were the only ones who perfectly fitted the international measurement mould. Finally one can begin to count catwalk queens who made it: Marie-Lou Philips, Anjali Mendes...

Beauty experts believe Indian women are cut out for beauty contests—glib talkers, curvy corners and all. But with 33-24-33 becoming an international figure, they don't quite measure up for the tough act.

In fact, notes Mehr Jessia, not one of the modelling hopefuls who've enlisted in her modelling school Face 1 expressed a desire for striking the supermodel slot abroad. Says she: "At 10 to 11 years of age, girls abroad have mastered the art of make-up. Does such a thought even cross our minds when we're that young? They start at 14-15 and are finished by 25-26. Look at Claudia Schiffer and Linda Evangelista. Here one can go on even till one is 35."

 35 going on 35. The Indian supermodel tribe has not increased as their ages—and the amounts they charge—have annually. In the past six years, post-Madhu Sapre, prices per show are no longer piddly. Promising newcomers are paid between Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000; models on the make charge Rs 15,000 and supermodels rake in a cool Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000. The added perk is the thrill of seeing one's face splashed across all glossies. Fashion specialists rue that their limits of ambition have thus whittled down to a handful of sky.

"Who wants to start at the bottom of the rung when one is already a supermodel here?" is Noyonika Chatterjee's poser. "Also in India, one tends to keep working with the same set of five to 10 models, the same photographers, the same choreographers, irrespective of which part of the country one's working in. Abroad, the models you encounter in one show are girls you never meet again. Every show has a new crop of people. It's too scary and I wouldn't want to model there."

It's a feeling echoed by almost all other top models, Milind Soman, the Indian equivalent of Greek Gods, included. Milind's stint in Europe was shortlived though friends believe his venture and return had more to do with the comings and goings of ladylove Sapre. From the professional perspective, Soman was summoned for casting for shows and was found wanting in height. "The competition in the men's section is very tough too.Blond, blue-eyed Gods from Scandinavia, France and Italy—and to top it all, they're extremely disciplined," says Castelino.

Herein lies the hitch. At home, success is sweet; there success is sweat-stained. It means, as star choreographer Hemant Trevedi puts it: "No late-night partying or bingeing the night before a show. Working with international models is wonderful because they turn up perfectly manicured, underarms done." Models aspiring for international recognition don't let their bodies go.

Discerning designers would demand that they follow suit. They work out three to four hours a day, eating up very little newsprint as well. "So much so that nobody ever asks them their opinion about things," says designer Wendel Rodricks. They are faceless, nameless, "mere clothes hangers known by their numbers". Unlike Indian models who occasionally pitch their tents to perform for an adoring public, they are no cats off the walk. Members of no celebrity circuits; no celebrity circus.

The huffing before haute couturiers, the puffing before the posturing. The international scene isn't an easy life as the collective miseries of Mehr, Madhu, Milind and Sheetal have proved. Meghana Reddy, who loves to let her hair down, had to banish the tresses. Only then did her career graph rise. The beautiful Bipasha Basu was cut down to size for the dominating Caucasian look.

"The problem is that our girls venture out late and then can't cope with the competition. They are so pampered as super-models in India that they can't stick it out there," says top choreographer Lubna Adams. "It's not that the Indian girls back home don't take modelling seriously; it's just that they take it for granted."

In spite of all this, there are a handful willing to restart the book and relearn the ropes of the ramp. Those, who in spite of the insecurity of the environment, revel in rediscovery: fluidity, style of photography, body language, make-up, the lighting.... Vidisha has been lapped up by Next, an outfit that flips for new looks. Meghana has worked with hotshots like Steven Mie-sel and Nick Knight. Lascelles was the only Indian model on an Armand Basi show. Achala Sachdev worked for the hair-raising Trevor Sorbie as far back as eight years ago.

And as the new brash breed have shown, they won't stop short of anything. Including scaling those elusive international heights.