Mini Mathur stumbled into modelling career after a renowned beauty queen ‘didn’t show up on time’, reveals who it was

It was then that Abhinav Das, who was the creative director for the campaign, asked Mini to fill in for Sushmita. “He was passing my table, where I was sitting and was colouring artwork because I was a management trainee. He said, ‘Hey, Mini come, we need you to pitch for this ad, you don’t have to put on makeup and just have to put on aviator glasses and a leather jacket and we will see,'” Mini shared.

Mini sat there with “a grumpy face” but a “cool attitude,” which impressed the client. They asked that Mini remain on board as the model for their campaign, and this led to her being on the billboards. “It was a big campaign and it went up on hoardings and that’s when I got noticed,” Mini revealed. After gaining some  recognition because of the advertisement, Mini was called to audition for India’s first game show, Tol Mol Ke Bol. She continued, “They said, ‘Would you like to come and test?’, and I said, ‘I have never done television before’. But I went for the audition, and the moment they put on the camera, I just felt so comfortable and happy in front of the camera. Madhavan and I hosted that show and that led to many shows.”

After that, Mini hosted several travel, beauty and game shows on Indian television before joining MTV as a video jockey. She also hosted the singing reality show, Indian Idol. Sushmita rose to fame after winning the Miss Universe crown in 1994, and subsequently embarked on a career as a Bollywood actor.