SHEETAL MENONPORTFOLIO: Kingfisher, 2005 and 2008OOMPH QUOTIENT: Classic, sultry south Indian beautyAs she lounges on the sand-soaked beaches at Havelock Island, Andamans, Sheetal Menon drips oomph. But around four years ago, she was a background model hanging around sets—till photographer Atul Kasbekar noticed the dusky beauty at a shoot with then supermodel Aishwarya Rai. “One look at her and I knew she was in the wrong place. She had a beautiful face that really stood out. I told her to junk the assignment and go back and give me a call in a couple of days,” says Kasbekar, the lensman behind all the editions of the Kingfisher calendar.“He told me I had potential but my portfolio was terrible,” recalls Menon. A new portfolio was shot and Kasbekar helped her nail the lucrative Kingfisher deal in 2005. The 20-something went on to be featured twice in the Kingfisher calendar. And it’s already got her what she wanted: a role in a Bollywood production, Pavan Kaul’s Bhram, with former models Milind Soman and Dino Morea. “I never wanted to be a model. I had joined an acting course under Kishore Namit Singh while in college. But my parents wanted me to complete my graduation first,” recalls the Army kid who grew up in Pune. Now, her career has been defined by her diva glam. “The Kingfisher calendar was the biggest break I could have imagined. It changed my life,” she says. POOJA CHITGOPEKARIn 2006, she was teaching the right twang to call-centre job aspirants at a BPO in Bangalore—and hating it. But the camera smiled on Tamara Moss. A chance meeting with a model coordinator led this Indo-Dutch beauty to photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta and soon Moss found her hands full with campaigns for leading fashion brands.Her debut at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week got mixed reactions—while her rather ungainly walk came in for flak, photographers and designers went ga-ga about the pretty picture she cut on print. Which is probably why, when the Taj Group of Hotels decided to launch their annual calendar, they zoomed in on the 20-year-old. Which is also why, when Atul Kasbekar was looking for a fresh face for the Kingfisher 2008 calendar, he took his friend and fellow photographer Tarun Vishwa’s advice and called Moss for an audition. The next thing she knew, Moss was shooting in sylvan Andamans for Mallya’s 2008 almanac. “She has a very open face, like that of a child-woman. It comes out beautifully in print,” says designer J.J. Valaya, who has shot with Moss for one of his campaigns.The plaudits don’t stop there. Kasbekar, the lensman who has shot all the Kingfisher calendars, says, “Tamara is a complete non-poser. You can never tell her what to do. Every day, she would come and just do her own thing and still look incredible. She has endless limbs and uses them to the best advantage. She has the makings of a supermodel.”Moss, too, prefers the world of print campaigns to ramp shows. “I can’t work in an environment where I have nothing to add, and where people are yelling and screaming at me. I like the controlled environment of campaign shoots,” says the lissome 5.10” model, based out of Bangalore.Unlike most models, Moss prefers to work by herself, rather than through agencies. “That way, I can decide who to work with and how much I get paid,” she grins.Bollywood has come calling a few times and she is set to make the big shift to Mumbai. “I need to take acting lessons and learn Hindi before I can take up a project. But what I really, really want is to walk the ramp in Paris or New York.”ESHA GUPTAportfolio: Miss India calendar from Shoot Talent ManagementOomph quotient: Phenomenal body languageLISA HAYDONportfolio: Elite Model Management and Raheja UniversalOomph quotient: International look and great energyLisa haydon has always had a flair for role-playing. Shuttling between India, USA and Australia with her Indian father, Australian mother and six siblings, she tried her hand at law, psychiatry, even social service (with The Family Care International in the States), before doing her first commercial in Sydney for Cornetto. “I realised I quite liked it, so I finally could decide on a career for myself,” laughs the 22-year-old. After a number of commercials in Australia, Mumbai-born Haydon moved back to India 10 months ago. But this year, she has already bagged two big projects—she is part of the Elite Model Management agency’s calendar and was featured twice in the Jatin Kampani-shot almanac for the construction company, Raheja. While the Elite one has her in a Geisha look, the Raheja calendar sees her get into the skin of Spiderwoman in a sheer black diaphanous gown before turning into an ice maiden. “I have done ramp shows and enjoy them a lot, but there is a thrill in being someone else,” she says. The shutterbugs can’t stop raving about her. Says photographer Nisha Kutty, “In the whole bunch of girls that I shot for the Elite calendar, Lisa’s energy was infectious. The kind of cosmopolitan and international look that she has lends itself to different kinds of styling.”The ramp assignments have started coming in, but her target is television, where she is already hosting a few shows off and on, on lifestyle trends.
